By Canadian Press

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg welcomes Trudeau’s talk of more Canadian defence spending

Mar 9, 2022 | 11:24 AM

OTTAWA — The head of the NATO military alliance says he welcomes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assertion that Canada will be looking at increasing its military spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a Canadian defence conference today that Canada is contributing to NATO in many different ways.

That includes leading a multinational battlegroup in Latvia and, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, committing an additional warship, aircraft and troops to the alliance’s defensive efforts in eastern Europe.

But Stoltenberg added he would like to see all NATO allies do even more, and that he was encouraged that Trudeau earlier this week opened the door to adding more money to Canada’s defence spending.

While all NATO allies agreed in 2014 to spending two per cent of their GDP on defence within the next decade, Canada has lagged behind most of its allies by consistently spending far less than that.

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Canada spent about 1.39 per cent of its GDP on the military last year, according to NATO.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2022.

The Canadian Press