Canada’s top diplomat called for a “substantial investment” in military funding in response to President Trump’s victory in the 2016 elections.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland concluded from the fall elections that American voters want to “shrug off the burden of world leadership.” And as Trump’s foreign policy diverges from that of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on issues ranging from trade to climate change, she argued that Canada needs a stronger military in order avoid becoming “a client state” of the United States.
“To put it plainly: Canadian diplomacy and development sometimes require the backing of hard power,” Freeland told the House of Commons on Tuesday, per CBC News. “Force is, of course, always a last resort. But the principled use of force, together with our allies and governed by international law, is part of our history and must be part of our future. To have that capacity requires a substantial investment, which this government is committed to making.”
Trump has called for NATO allies such as Canada to increase their defense spending, saying that the alliance is “costing us a fortune” and that “the distribution of costs has to be changed.” His criticism of the allies motivated pledges to increase spending designed to avoid any American withdrawal from the transatlantic alliance. “We know that we all need to contribute our fair share,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a joint press conference at the White House.
Canada ranks near the bottom of the alliance in terms of defense spending as a measure of gross domestic product, something Trudeau’s government has seemed unwilling to change in recent months. “There are many ways of evaluating one’s contribution to NATO,” Trudeau said in March.
Freeland’s speech thus might mark a movement toward Trump’s goal of the allies spending more money, but she made clear that a stronger military would allow Canada to advance an opposing foreign policy if need be. “To rely solely on the U.S. security umbrella would make us a client state,” she said. “And although we have an incredibly good relationship with our American friends and neighbors, such a dependence would not be in Canada’s interest.”
