Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday announced a multi-billion-dollar military spending package, affirming his government’s plan to hit NATO’s two percent defense spending target this year.
Since taking office in April, Carney has repeatedly warned that Canada’s military is not equipped to confront the growing threats facing the country.
He has cited the prospect of Russian aggression undermining Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic and the United States’ increasingly uncertain role in shaping global security, among other risks.
“The international order built after the Second World War, and reshaped following the Cold War, is under pressure,” Carney said Friday in a speech at a military base.
“We have taken our security for granted for too long,” he added.
Carney announced CAN$2 billion ($1.5 billion) to boost soldiers’ pay, including a substantial 20 percent salary raise for the military’s lowest ranking personnel.
Those funds are part of CAN$9 billion in new military investments planned for this year, Carney said, vowing to invest in combat vehicles, drones and other hardware.
President Donald Trump has demanded that NATO allies commit to spending five percent of their GDP on defense, and warned the United States could refuse to protect countries that do not devote what he considers to be adequate funds towards their military.
Carney affirmed Friday that Canada would hit NATO’s two percent target this year and would plan to meet “the new defense investment pledge of five percent of annual GDP over the next decade, by 2035.”
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