Canada reviews defense spending “top-down” for NATO eyes 5%: Minister-Country
Defense Secretary David McGuinty said Thursday that Ottawa is reviewing its defense spending plan “top to bottom” as Canada is under pressure from allies to increase spending to levels not seen since the peak of the Cold War.
McInty said the federal government will have more “soon” about its coalition spending commitments and will “issued announcements in that regard.”
“Canada is currently revisiting all its spending,” he told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
“Just recently, our Prime Minister announced a new $6 billion effort to secure the Canadian Arctic region of our Arctic. So we are working with our colleagues to implement a series of changes. We have a lot of economically about what to say in a very short time.”
McGuinty, who attended Belgium for the NATO Defense Ministers' Meeting, the last NATO conference ahead of the leaders' summit later this month, is expected to agree to increase their defense spending targets.
The Defense Minister is meeting to set “capacity goals” – basically a shopping list that lists a variety of weapons that 32 member states need to buy.
The priority purchase list includes air and missile defense systems, artillery, ammunition and drones.
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“Today, we have determined our capacity goals. From there, we will evaluate the gaps we have, not only to defend ourselves, but three, five, seven years from now,” said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Canada is under tremendous pressure to increase its defense spending to 5% of GDP, which is one-third of its current target.
According to a recent NATO report, Ottawa has long struggled to reach its current 2% benchmark and the Department of Defense spent only 1.33% of its GDP in 2023. The NATO Secretary-General's annual report released in April said Canada's defense spending will reach 1.45% by 2024.
Leaders of the allies will hold their annual NATO summit in the Netherlands from June 24 to 25, and they generally expect that they agree to a large-scale hike on their defense spending commitments, mainly at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday at his doorstep at NATO headquarters that he hopes member states agree on 5% at the summit.
“To be a coalition, you have to be the flag,” he said. “We are here to continue the work that President Trump started and at this summit in The Hague later this month, we think that this will happen to a 5% coalition.”
Currently, no member state meets the 5% benchmark, and there is not even the United States. Hegseth spoke to reporters as he entered the building without any questions.
The plan proposed at the summit will cost member countries 3.5% of annual domestic production GDP (such as JET and other weapons) and 1.5% in defensive and durable areas such as infrastructure, cybersecurity and industries.
Data from the Stockholm International Peace Institute shows that Canada's Ministry of Defense has spent 5% of its defense since 1957. It last spent 2% in 1990.
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's administration suggests that it will reach its 2% target once Canada buys up to 12 new submarines to replace its aging Victoria Class submarine. Ottawa is expected to award a contract to a new Subs fleet in 2028.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised that Canada's deadline will be brought in the latest election campaign to reach the distance between 2032 and 2030 or faster.
McInty said Thursday that Canada is keenly aware of how the global security environment changes and is observing the increase in geopolitical risks.
“We have no illusions about the scale of the future challenges,” he said. “Russia's unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine continues to undermine the stability of the global security landscape. China's growing ambitions and increasingly confident behavior are eroding the stability of the Indo-Pacific region. Unstable actions by regimes such as North Korea and Iran are undermining orders that we all rely on rules.
“We all have to do more in the face of these growing threats. We all have to do more.”
– Documents with the Associated Press
& Copy 2025 Canadian Press
