Canada to announce plan to reach NATO target, spend 2% of GDP on defence: sources
July 11 updates: Canada set to provide details on defence funding timeline as NATO summit wraps up
After facing months of pressure, senior government sources tell CTV News that Canada will unveil its plan on Thursday on how to reach its NATO commitment to spend two per cent of its GDP on defence.
Canada is currently the only member of the alliance without a timeline to reach that target. According to NATO's latest figures, Canada is on track to reach 1.37 per cent of GDP this year. Twenty-three of 32 NATO member countries are on track to meet or exceed the two per cent pledge in 2024.
Defence Minister Bill Blair is in Washington with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the NATO summit, which is marking the 75th anniversary of the alliance.
On Monday, Blair spoke at the Foreign Policy Security Forum and signalled more details were to come on Canada's defence spending.
"Over the course of the next few days, I will be able to share that credible, verifiable plan with our allies to provide them with assurances that Canada understands its responsibility and we're going to live up to our responsibilities," Blair said.
Speaking on a panel at the NATO Public Forum on Wednesday afternoon, Blair reiterated that Canada will meet the pledge, and perhaps more.
"We’ll meet the 2 per cent pledge and I think we even need to go beyond that 2 per cent pledge." Blair said that Canada has to invest well and hinted at a path forward to reaching its defence spending targets through partnership with other NATO members. Blair told the audience that Canada had entered into an agreement with Norway and Germany to "work together on issues around production."
"We are going to create real value by working together," Blair said.
In April, the federal government released its long-awaited defence policy that pledged Canada would see military spending rise to 1.76 per cent of GDP by 2030, but no target to hit two per cent. The policy also unveiled a new overall investment of $8.1 billion over five years and $73 billion over 20 years.
Criticism from NATO, alliance members
Leading up to the summit, Canada has faced increasing pressure from NATO and its members to reach the two per cent target.
In 2014, NATO members pledged to commit at least two per cent of GDP to defence spending. But since Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has referred to that target as a floor and not a ceiling.
In an exclusive broadcast interview with CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in June, Stoltenberg said he expects more from Canada when it comes to defence spending.
"We live in a more dangerous world, and therefore we need to invest more in our defence and our security," he said. "I welcome the increase you have seen in Canada over the last years, but I expect more."
This week, Canada has also faced new criticism from prominent U.S. politicians.
On Monday, at a security forum on the margins of the summit, U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson accused Canada of "riding on America's coattails."
"They have the safety and security of being on our border and not having to worry about that. I think that's shameful. I think if you're going to be a member nation and participant, you need to do your part," Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Republican Senate minority leader acknowledged shared values and economic ties between Canada and the U.S., but said "it's time for our northern ally to invest seriously in the hard power required to help preserve prosperity and security across @NATO."
Back in May, a group of 23 bipartisan U.S. senators also issued a rare open letter to Trudeau, imploring him to make good on his commitment.
, the senators wrote, "As we approach the 2024 NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., we are concerned and profoundly disappointed that Canada's most recent projection indicated that it will not reach its two percent commitment this decade."
Canada to purchase new submarines
On Wednesday, the federal government announced it is launching a process to purchase 12 new submarines to replace its aging fleet.
Senior government sources say the purchase will be part of Canada’s commitment to reach two per cent of GDP on defence, but there is no estimated cost or target date for the new fleet.
The Department of National Defence is in the process of meeting with manufacturers and potential partners.
"This new fleet will enable Canada to protect its sovereignty in a changing world, and make valuable, high-end contributions to the security of our partners and NATO Allies," Blair said in a statement. "We look forward to delivering this new fleet to the Royal Canadian Navy."
The Canadian navy currently only has four submarines that were purchased second-hand from the British government in 1998, and delivered between 2000 to 2004.
With files from CTV News Parliamentary Bureau's Spencer Van Dyk
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½
Tensions flare between Poilievre and Singh in the House after NDP says it will back Trudeau Liberals
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh got into a heated exchange in the House of Commons on Thursday, just minutes after Singh announced his party would not be supporting the Conservatives' first non-confidence motion against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.
The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.
Shamattawa RCMP are searching for a missing six-year-old boy who hasn’t been seen since Wednesday morning.
B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.
PM Trudeau names Anita Anand transport minister after Pablo Rodriguez quits cabinet
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tapped Treasury Board President Anita Anand to take on additional duties as Canada's minister of transport on Thursday.
Canadian women among those who allege Harrods boss sexually abused them
CTV News has learned there are multiple Canadian women alleging they were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the late Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has lost 205 firearms since 2020, including machine-guns
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has lost 205 firearms since 2020, including more than 120 handguns and at least five fully automatic weapons like machine-guns.
Shohei Ohtani becomes the first major league player with 50 homers, 50 stolen bases in a season
Shohei Ohtani became the first major league player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season, with the Los Angeles Dodgers star going deep twice to reach the half-century mark and swiping two bags to get to 51 against the Miami Marlins on Thursday.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is calling on the Bloc Quebecois to topple the Trudeau government next Wednesday and trigger a federal election.
Local Spotlight
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.
David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.
Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.
A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.