Currently, Canada’s defence ‘strategy’ is to ask the U.S. to protect us, which is an embarrassing position for a sovereign nation to be in.
The United States is running out patience.
As America continually spends a large amount on their military, thus providing protection to Canada, Europe, and other allies, they are getting fed up with carrying such a disproportionate share of the defence burden.
And they aren’t hiding it any longer.
According to a recent Global News report, the U.S. Department of Defence sent a letter to the Canadian government, slamming our low military spending:
“One Canadian source told Global News that the U.S. is concerned that Canada does not take the threat from those countries in the Arctic seriously and wants the country to boost its contributions in that area.
Just seven countries — including the U.S. and the U.K. — have met NATO’s two per cent of GDP spending goal, according to figures released in June.
NATO’s estimates show Canada is expected to spend 1.27 per cent of its GDP on the military this year, up from about one per cent in 2014.”
China and Russia are both dramatically building up their presence in the arctic, while Canada basically does nothing at all.
Our military spending has been chronically low for years, under both Conservative and Liberal governments. As a result, our NATO and NORAD ally the U.S. is forced to be responsible for defending all of North America.
That is an unfair burden for us to be putting on America.
Canada should be pulling our own weight, and as a wealthy, technologically-advanced sovereign nation there is no excuse for us to not have a strong military.
Additionally, building up our military would mean billions of dollars of economic stimulus, hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and a stronger domestic manufacturing sector, reducing our reliance on foreign trade.
In a dangerous world, Canada cannot take the risk of outsourcing our defence to other nations. We need to build up our military and ensure our nation and our people are protected.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
