Minister: Canada will build up its military as the US pulls back from world stage

By Alan Freeman, The Washington Post - June 7, 2017
1056
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) embraces Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland after she delivered a speech on Canada's foreign policy in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada June 6, 2017. (Chris Wattie / Reuters)
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) embraces Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland after she delivered a speech on Canada’s foreign policy in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada June 6, 2017. (Chris Wattie / Reuters)

OTTAWA – Canada intends to make “a substantial investment” in its military because it can no longer rely on the United States for global leadership in the face of threats posed by terrorist groups or countries like Russia and North Korea, the Canadian foreign minister said Tuesday.

Echoing complaints made recently by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chrystia Freeland told Canada’s House of Commons that Washington has decided to forfeit its position of leadership on many issues, forcing Canada to invest in its own armed forces to defend liberal democracy.

[Canada seeks larger world role as U.S. retreats: foreign minister]

“The fact that our friend and ally has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership, puts into sharper focus the need for the rest of us to set our own clear and sovereign course,” Freeland said, never mentioning President Donald Trump by name. “To say this is not controversial. It is fact.”

But while criticizing U.S. foreign policy, Freeland conceded that Canada has not pulled its weight in terms of its military spending, a criticism that Trump has made of several NATO members, without necessarily singling out Canada. In 2016, Canada spent just over 1 percent of its gross domestic product on its military, half of the 2 percent level that is the goal of the NATO military alliance. In fact, Canada ranks 20th of 28 NATO members in military spending. The United States is No. 1 at 3.6 per cent of GDP.

“On the military front, Canada’s geography has meant that we have always been able to count on American self-interest to provide a protective umbrella beneath which we have found indirect shelter,” she said. But she added that to depend totally on the U.S. protective umbrella would make Canada a “client state.”

“We will make the necessary investments in our military, to not only address years of neglect and underfunding, but also to place the Canadian armed forces on a new footing,” the foreign minister said. Freeland’s speech is to be followed Wednesday with announcement of a new defense policy review.