This past week, nearly one-quarter of the U.S. Senate criticized Prime Minister Trudeau over Canada’s defence spending, urging Canada to present a plan at the NATO summit to meet the alliance’s spending target. This was followed by comments from American Ambassador to Canada David Cohen about Canada becoming an outlier in NATO.
These remarks are salient, given the upcoming Washington Summit, and in light of Canada’s recently released and long-awaited defence policy update, which pledged billions of dollars in spending over the next several years.
These events serve as a basis to analyze Canada’s defence policy update, including perspectives on the policy and Canada’s defence spending from the U.S., the significance of the Senate’s letter, expectations for Canada at the upcoming NATO Summit, and the implications of Our North, Strong and Free for procurement reform and submarine renewal.
Philippe Lagassé, Associate Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, shares his insights on procurement reform, and submarine replacements. Steven Saideman, Paterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton University, discusses the implications of the update, Canada-U.S. relations, and the efficacy of the two percent threshold. Christopher Sands, Director of the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute, provides insights on U.S. attitudes toward Canada’s defence spending, economic impacts, and expectations for the Washington Summit.
