EDITORIAL: Our NATO spending is going in reverse

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While no one expected Canada to meet its NATO target of increasing its military spending to 2% of GDP anytime soon, a report released on the eve of the NATO summit which began Tuesday in Spain says we’re heading in the wrong direction.

The report from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg estimates Canada’s NATO spending this year at 1.27% of GDP, down from 1.32% in 2021 and 1.42% in 2020.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, attending the NATO summit, defended Canada’s commitment to NATO despite the report’s findings.

Canada’s current level of support is lower than all but a handful of countries in the 30-nation military alliance.

By contrast, the report says, Canada’s two closest allies are spending above the 2% of GDP target — the U.S. at 3.47% this year and the U.K. at 2.12%.

Earlier this year, the Trudeau government raised expectations of a significant increase in military spending to get closer to achieving the 2% target NATO members had recommitted to in 2014, after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded and annexed Crimea.

But Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s budget, while it allocated billions more for military spending, barely nudged the dial toward achieving the 2% target, which for Canada has long been a stretch goal as opposed to a realistic one.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux last month forecasted government spending of $36.3 billion this year on Canada’s military, rising to $51 billion in 2026, increasing Canada’s percentage of government spending on the military from 1.33% of GDP to 1.59% in 2026.

To achieve the 2% NATO target, Giroux said, Canada would have to increase military spending by an additional $75 billion between now and 2026.

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Canada’s precise level of military spending varies according to how it’s calculated and because it’s a constantly moving target.

Not all of the funding goes to combat functions or giving military aid to Ukraine or other countries. The military budget includes funding veterans’ pensions and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Given that Canada is nowhere near achieving its NATO target of spending 2% of GDP on the military, it’s all the more important spending is done efficiently and that the problem-plagued military procurement process is fixed, so that taxpayers receive good value for money spent.