Prime Minister Mark Carney has committed Canada to spending five per cent of its GDP on defence by 2035, a plan that Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee MP Scott Anderson says is "long overdue," though he hopes the target won't be met by "artificially" boosting defence expenditures.
Carney signed off on the lofty defence spending target in the Netherlands Wednesday, June 25, when other leaders of the NATO alliance also pledged to up defence spending to the five per cent of GDP mark.
It's an ambitious goal given Canada only spent about 1.4 per cent of its GDP on defence in 2024, short of NATO's current two per cent target.
The five per cent benchmark would cost Canada $150 billion a year, Carney said in a CNN interview on Tuesday.
Anderson is a veteran officer with a nearly a decade of military service. He was appointed to the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence last week, meaning he'll be overseeing Canada's defence spending and, along with three other Conservative MPs on the committee, will be holding the Liberal government to account on how the five per cent target is met.
Speaking to The Morning Star on Thursday, Anderson said a plan to bolster the Canadian Armed Forces has long been needed, though his expectations were tempered.
"My initial thoughts are it's long overdue," he said. "What I'm a little concerned about is that most of (the spending), as Carney said, is going to happen near the end of the decade or into the next decade, which means he's punting the football a bit with minor adds in the next term, which may or may not last four years."
He said the military suffered a "lost decade" under the Trudeau government.
Anderson said he's skeptical when it comes to how the funding target will be met. He pointed to rumours that the coast guard will be brought under the Department of National Defence umbrella, which he suggested would be one way for the federal government to inflate defence spending without actually bolstering the military.
Carney offered a breakdown of the five per cent target on Wednesday: 3.5 per cent will be for core military spending and 1.5 per cent for defence-related infrastructure. Anderson has his doubts about the infrastructure spending and whether such projects would meaningfully increase defence capabilities.
"I'm hoping that it is actually an increase of five per cent and not simply an accounting sleight of hand," he said.
The Okanagan MP said increased spending to modernize the Canadian Armed Forces is needed because of the new world of modern warfare that has emerged with ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East, and widespread speculation that China could soon invade Taiwan in a pivotal geopolitical move.
"We've got three hot points around the world and they're all interconnected," Anderson said.
He added Canada needs to take national security into its own hands given U.S. President Donald Trump's isolationist stance on global affairs.
"With the new posture of the United States, we simply can't drift along under their umbrella and hope to be safe anymore."
As for how he'd like to see increased defence funding spent, Anderson said equipment for soldiers is sorely needed.
"When I was taking an officer's training course in 2010-2011, we were actually using Vietnam-era flak vests," he said. "That's the kind of equipment our soldiers are being issued and that's not going to cut it in the new world. We could behave like that in 2010 or 10 years ago. We can't do that any longer and we need to beef up the basic equipment that the forces use right from the ground up."
Everything from personal protective equipment to armoured vehicles and airplanes is needed, Anderson said. He would also like to see increased spending boost Canada's technological military capabilities in an age of drone warfare.
Asked how important it is for NATO as a whole to increase its defence spending, as the leaders have pledged, Anderson said look no further than Eastern Europe.
"You'd have to ask the Poles and the people who are directly faced with Russian aggression. I mean, Finland didn't join NATO and Sweden didn't stop its 200 years of neutrality just out of kicks and giggles. They did it for a reason, and that is an aggressive Russia."
NATO's increased defence spending targets have been heralded as a win for Trump, who has repeatedly rebuked NATO members for not upping their defence capabilities and whose statements have cast doubt as to his willingness to aid countries within the alliance that may come under threat. Frequent taunts by the U.S. president about making Canada the 51st state are another spectre of security concerns for Canada.
Anderson said he thinks the Liberal government has "inflated the threat from Trump" unnecessarily, adding Trump has but a short term in office and U.S.-Canada allyship will continue long after he leaves office.
"I don't know the reason that Carney has agreed to go to five per cent but I would suggest it's not really out of any threat from the Americans, nor is it to placate the Americans so much as it is the fact that the world has changed," Anderson said. "The European members of NATO are also significantly increasing their expenditures, and if Canada wants to be a real member, it needs to act like a member."
In his role on the defence committee, Anderson said he'll be helping to ensure Canada is spending money "on what we need," while also ensuring the federal government doesn't "simply move money around on paper and call it an increase."
