{"id":190115,"date":"2018-11-17T21:02:06","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T02:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=190115"},"modified":"2018-11-17T21:02:06","modified_gmt":"2018-11-18T02:02:06","slug":"canadas-defence-spending-questioned-at-nato-parliamentary-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/11\/17\/canadas-defence-spending-questioned-at-nato-parliamentary-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada’s defence spending questioned at NATO parliamentary meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: It\u2019s an honour to announce the #HISF2018 Peace with Women Fellows this evening alongside @CDS_Canada_CEMD. These women are leaders in their countries and their militaries and an inspiration to us all. @HFXforum (Photo<\/a>: @DMDND_SMMDN\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HALIFAX \u2014 The deputy minister of national defence has told a NATO meeting in Halifax that Canada is satisfied that it is spending what it requires to meet its alliance and other military commitments.<\/p>\n

Jody Thomas held fast to the government’s stance on defence spending on Saturday, despite some pointed questioning about Canada’s commitment following her presentation before NATO’s defence and security committee.<\/p>\n

U.S. Republican congressman Michael Turner, the committee’s acting chairman, asked whether Canada intends to table a plan for meeting the two per cent of GDP standard for defence spending that was agreed to by alliance members at a summit in Wales in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of the nations that are here are either meeting their two per cent or have in place a plan to reach the two per cent,\u201d said Turner. \u201cCanada is one of those countries who has not yet put forward a commitment to reach the two per cent although that is a commitment that Canada joined in making at Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas stuck to the Liberal government’s line, saying Canada intends to increase its defence budget by 1.46 per cent by the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada’s defence budget is growing by 70 per cent as a result of Strong, Secure, Engaged (Canada’s defence policy),\u201d said Thomas. \u201cWe also on the ground are leading a significant number of operations, and we have never not participated in a NATO commitment or operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also reiterated that Canada believes it contributes to the alliance in a \u201cqualitative\u201d way through an active participation in the alliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defence budget is a significant increase in funding for national defence and our prime minister is very satisfied with that contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Bob Stewart, a member of the United Kingdom delegation, reminded Thomas that Canada agreed to the commitment, adding that it’s \u201ccrucial\u201d it be honoured.<\/p>\n

Stewart, a Conservative MP, then questioned Canada’s current defence spending commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s something like 1.12 per cent at the moment and honestly, it’s not enough,\u201d said Stewart. \u201cThere are many nations that are not doing enough and I include my own nation … we have all got to contribute more and help the United States that bears the burden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas shot back that Canada’s funding includes its commitment to North American Air Defence (NORAD) and she stated that there are \u201cinconsistencies\u201d in the way the military budgets of member countries are assessed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is that who counts what differs from country to country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A report released by NATO ahead of last July’s alliance summit in Brussels, predicted Canada would spend 1.23 per cent of its GDP on defence this year \u2014 less than last year’s level of 1.36 per cent. That leaves Canada ranked 18th out of the alliance’s 29 members.<\/p>\n

The decline is largely attributed to two one-time expenses last year, including a retroactive pay increase for service members that was included in the government’s defence policy, and a $1.8-billion payment into the account that provides pensions for Forces members and their dependents.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Canadian Press, British Air Chief Marshal Stuart Peach, who is chairman of the NATO Military Committee, praised Canada for its \u201cvery strong support for the alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peach pointed to ongoing naval exercises and Canada’s support for NATO’s forward deployment in the Baltic states along with its support for the training mission in Iraq.<\/p>\n

With regards to the two per cent target he remained diplomatic, saying that NATO officials have maintained there are three elements to the overall funding conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is defence spending which is about the money, there’s then a description and important modernization adaptation of NATO’s capabilities of which Canada plays an important role,\u201d Peach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then there’s the question of contributions and I’ve already set out how pleased we are with the range of Canada’s contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HALIFAX \u2014 The deputy minister of national defence has told a NATO meeting in Halifax that Canada is satisfied that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":190116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-keith-doucette","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}