Commonwealth_ Canada will achieve NATO’s military expenditures guideline of 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) by early next year, five years ahead of target, Prime Minister Mark Carney declared. In a dramatic change in foreign and defense policy, Carney also said that Canada would shift its defense spending away from the United States, which he characterized as no longer playing a dominant role on the world scene.
“Our equipment and infrastructure have aged, hampering our military preparedness,” Carney claimed in a University of Toronto speech. “Only one of our four submarines is in working condition. Less than half of our ships in the water and on shore are ready to operate. More broadly, we rely too much on the United States.”
According to recent NATO statistics, Canada was previously spending only 1.45% of GDP on its defence budget, which is below the NATO benchmark. Previous projections had indicated Canada would reach the 2% threshold by the end of the decade. Since then, Carney’s announcement advances that timeline significantly, which is a shift both in defence expenditures and geopolitical alignment.
“Our objective is to defend Canadians and not satisfy NATO accountants,” Carney said. But he admitted that escalating worldwide tensions and the aging of military infrastructure necessitated urgent and more investment.
Canada is preparing to host U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the G7 Summit in Alberta from June 15 to 17, ahead of a NATO summit in Europe. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte reported that the majority of member states have now agreed to Trump’s call for more defense spending to reach 5% of GDP more than twice the current NATO target.
Carney confirmed Canada would stick with the existing 2% commitment, but left the door open for future increases. “We are going to 2%. And that is the NATO goal as it stands today. We will have to spend more,” he said at a news conference following his speech. That will be debated next month at the NATO summit.
A key part of Canada’s new defence policy is to diversify weapons purchases. Carney criticizedthe the current overdependence on American manufacturers. “We should no longer be sending three-quarters of our defence capital spending to America,” he stated. Canada will be funding a wide array of new defence technologies and equipment, ranging from submarines and aircraft to ships and guns, radar systems, drones, and undersea and Arctic surveillance tools.
To reduce its reliance on the United States, Canada has commenced talks with the European Union on closer defense cooperation. The negotiations include the potential acquisition of European defense hardware, including fighter jets. The government is weighing the contentious acquisition of U.S. F-35 jets to determine if there are more suitable options.
Carney placed the Canadian defence transformation in perspective by invoking geopolitics since the Cold War. “We stood shoulder to shoulder with the Americans during the Cold War and beyond. But today, that predominance is a thing of the past,” he noted. He continued by stating that since the Berlin Wall came down, the U.S. had become a world hegemon with unmatched economic and military influence, but now is beginning to “monetize its hegemony” charging for access to the marketplace and reducing its contribution to collective security.
Trump’s earlier suggestions that Canada should be the 51st state of America have raised Canadian ire. Carney, elected on a promise of resistance to escalating American aggression, framed current threats as “new imperialism.”
He also dismissed the age-old notion that Canada’s geography offers natural defense. “That thinking is getting increasingly antique,” he said. In order to bolster national security, Carney said that the government will incorporate 9 billion Canadian dollars (some USD 6.6 billion) of additional defense expenditure this year. This plan will prominently include the Canadian Coast Guard in the armed forces.
