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Justin Trudeau hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

Justin Trudeau hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

Canada says it will look at increasing its defence spending and tacked on 10 more Russian names to an ever growing sanctions list.

By Tonda MacCharles
Ottawa Bureau
Mon., March 7, 2022

Riga, LATVIA—On the 13th day of the brutal Russian bid to claim Ukraine as its own, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is showing up at the Latvian battle group led by Canadian soldiers, waving the Maple Leaf and a vague hint at more money for the military.

Canada has been waving the NATO flag for nearly seven years in Latvia as a bulwark against Russia’s further incursions in Eastern Europe.

Canada stepped up to lead one of NATO’s four battle groups in 2015 — part of the defensive alliance’s display of strength and solidarity with weaker member states after Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Trudeau arrived in the Latvian capital late Monday after meetings in the U.K. with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Earlier Monday, faced with a seemingly unstoppable war in Ukraine, Trudeau said he will look at increasing Canada’s defence spending. Given world events, he said there are “certainly reflections to have.”

And Canada tacked on 10 more Russian names to an ever-growing sanctions list.

The latest round of sanctions includes names Trudeau said were identified by jailed Russian opposition leader and Putin nemesis Alexei Navalny.

However, on a day when Trudeau cited the new sanctions, and Johnson touted new measures meant to expose Russian property owners in his country, Rutte admitted sanctions are not working.

Yet they all called for more concerted international efforts over the long haul, including more economic measures and more humanitarian aid, with Johnson and Rutte divided over how quickly countries need to get off Russian oil and gas.

The 10 latest names on Canada’s target list do not include Roman Abramovich — a Russian billionaire Navalny has been flagging to Canada since at least 2017. Canada appears to have sanctioned about 20 of the 35 names on Navalny’s list.

The Conservative opposition says the Liberal government is not yet exerting maximum pressure on Putin, and should do more to bolster Canadian Forces, including by finally approving the purchase of fighter jets.

Foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said in an interview that Ottawa must still sanction “additional oligarchs close to President Putin who have significant assets in Canada.”

Abramovich owns more than a quarter of the public shares in steelmaking giant Evraz, which has operations in Alberta and Saskatchewan and has supplied most of the steel for the government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline project.

Evraz’s board of directors also includes two more Russians the U.S. government identified as “oligarchs” in 2019 — Aleksandr Abramov and Aleksandr Frolov — and its Canadian operations have received significant support from the federal government.

That includes at least $27 million in emergency wage subsidies during the pandemic, as well as $7 million through a fund meant to help heavy-polluters reduce emissions that cause climate change, according to the company’s most recent annual report.

In addition to upping defence spending, the Conservatives want NORAD’s early warning system upgraded, naval shipbuilding ramped up and Arctic security bolstered.

In London, Johnson sat down with Trudeau and Rutte at the Northolt airbase. Their morning meetings had a rushed feel, with Johnson starting to usher press out before Trudeau spoke. His office said later that the British PM couldn’t squeeze the full meeting in at 10 Downing Street because Johnson’s “diary” was so busy that day. The three leaders held an afternoon news conference at 10 Downing.

But before that Trudeau met with the Queen, saying she was “insightful” and they had a “useful, for me anyway, conversation about global affairs.”

Trudeau meets with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Tuesday in Latvia.

The prime minister will also meet with three Baltic leaders, the prime ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, in the Latvian capital of Riga.

The Liberals announced they would increase the 500 Canadian Forces in Latvia by another 460 troops. The Canadians are leading a multinational battle group, one of four that are part of NATO’s deployments in the region.

Another 3,400 Canadians could be deployed to the region in the months to come, on standby for NATO orders.

But Canada’s shipments of lethal aid to Ukraine were slow to come in the view of the Conservatives, and the Ukrainian Canadian community.

And suddenly Western allies are eyeing each other’s defence commitments.

At the Downing Street news conference, Rutte noted the Netherlands will increase its defence budget to close to two per cent of GDP. Germany has led the G7, and doubled its defence budget in the face of Putin’s invasion and threats. Johnson said the U.K. defence spending is about 2.4 per cent and declined to comment on Canada’s defence spending which is 1.4 per cent of GDP.

But Johnson didn’t hold back.

“What we can’t do, post the invasion of Ukraine is assume that we go back to a kind of status quo ante, a kind of new normalization in the way that we did after the … seizure of Crimea and the Donbas area,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to recognize that things have changed and that we need a new focus on security and I think that that is kind of increasingly understood by everybody.”

Trudeau stood by his British and Dutch counterparts and pledged Canada would do more.

He defended his government’s record, saying Ottawa is gradually increasing spending over the next decade by 70 per cent. Then Trudeau admitted more might be necessary.

“We also recognize that context is changing rapidly around the world and we need to make sure that women and men have certainty and our forces have all the equipment necessary to be able to stand strongly as we always have. As members of NATO. We will continue to look at what more we can do.”

The three leaders — Johnson, a conservative and Trudeau and Rutte, progressive liberals — in a joint statement said they “will continue to impose severe costs on Russia.”

Arriving for the news conference from Windsor Castle, Trudeau had to detour to enter Downing Street as loud so-called Freedom Convoy protesters bellowed from outside the gate. They carried signs marked “Tuck Frudeau” and “Free Tamara” (Lich).

Protester Jeff Wyatt who said he has no Canadian ties told the Star he came to stand up for Lich and others who were leading a “peaceful protest” worldwide against government “lies” about COVID-19 and what he called Trudeau’s “tyranny.”

Elsewhere in London, outside the Russian embassy, other protesters and passersby reflected on what they said was real tyranny — the Russian attack on Ukraine. “I think we should be as tough as possible to get this stopped, as tough as possible,” said protester Clive Martinez.
 
The solution suggests itself. Hire Danish CDS to run CAF

Or perhaps this group is more to the point?

 
Interesting item from Jean Charest who is running for leader of the CPC.

Jean Charest: It's time to increase defence spending

My Conservative government will make significant changes and upgrades to our nation's military capabilities.


By: Jean Charest

National security is a necessity, not a luxury. The war in Ukraine has illustrated the need to bolster our security capabilities here in Canada. The current government has remained content to underfund national defence for too long. The Liberal governments' inaction has undermined our ability to support our allies, most recently Ukraine.

Democracy is at stake. Lives are at stake. The world needs more from Canada. Now.

Recent shipments of lethal equipment, while welcome, are long overdue from the government and have been obstructed in many cases by further logistical challenges – a price you pay for being late out the blocks.

We need to stop playing catch up and start getting ahead with all public policy, but with national security policy in particular. Anticipation and planning are critical to protecting and defending our values when they are threatened by armed aggression and tyrants.

Our military procurement system is broken. For years experts have been warning about our incompetence at making major defence purchases. The past few weeks have shown us the price of our inaction.

While our allies, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, have entered into a new security pact to counter China in the Pacific, Canada wasn't even invited to the table.

Germany, Sweden, and other NATO allies promise to increase their military spending to prepare for the uncertain times ahead. Canada has a moral responsibility to act. Now is the time.

If elected as the leader, my Conservative government will make significant changes and upgrades to our nation's military capabilities. I will move quickly to ramp up Canadian defence spending to two percent of GDP, increase personnel to 100,000 and equip our forces for the challenging times ahead. I will modernize our cyber security infrastructure to prepare for future risks. And I will fix our embarrassing procurement system to ensure we get the equipment we desperately need.

The current conflict has also driven home the need to assert our sovereignty, especially in our North. As major sea lanes, essential to global trade and export of our natural resources, open within our arctic territory, we must be on high alert to Russian and Chinese encroachment. Neither recognizes our sovereignty there. In fact, no one really recognizes our sovereignty there and the imbalance in our military investments compared to our allies explains why that's the case.

The war in Ukraine is a cruel reminder of why we cannot ignore these threats. Russia has a modern military base in the arctic - another area where indecision and delay could be extremely costly unless addressed.

A proud Canada must assert its sovereignty in the North and generate military support through major investments in equipment and coordination with our NATO allies. We need to get our act together.

The threats remain real and demand immediate attention from leaders willing to act in the best interests of their respective nations.
Canadians need experience and expertise overseeing our military. We need a government that supports our military.

A Conservative government that places tangible outcomes ahead of politics will lead us through these dangerous times. This country's brightest minds and the best technology must be available and incentivized to contribute to our security, especially as warfare becomes more technological and unpredictable.

That includes investing in cybersecurity to protect the military and our critical industries. As with so many things, our energy sector is on the cutting edge of technology for defending itself from cyberattacks, and we need a government that doesn't vilify it but leans on its prowess to protect the country and the economy.


Jean Charest served as the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998, deputy prime minister in 1993 and as the premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012.


Link
 
Now I know that they (both the Liberals and the Conservatives) will not give details. I just have this feeling that there is no plan to better use the money. That there isn't going to be a clear eyed assessment on what sort of forces we need to do the jobs and duties we want.

Jean Charest's tweet has nothing in it to change my mind.
 
Ah for fuck's sake.

I had sworn to myself I wouldn't vote for him, and now look how's massacred my promise.

Have any of his rivals said anything about the military, yet?
Not yet. Charest is the only one to present actual policy plans. Polievre is mostly sound bites with little detail on how he would do whatever. Brown and Lewis I think not much. But we can cut them all a break since they all recently announced they would run. I’m sure events in Ukraine will all shape their platforms.
 
I think that is mostly because they don't know what absolute dire straights the CAF is in.
I think when a CFP snaps in half - and a CF18 drops out of the sky there will be huge complaints of why things where not fixed before that.

Well tragedy makes for heady news and higher ratings.
 
The cupboard is not only bare but half the shelves are missing.
You know I have spent almost 20 years when the subject of either foreign policy or defence giving what I felt was a realistic appraisal of the state of our military.
I usually got one of three responses.
First , it can't possibly be that bad. Second , this is Canada , every body likes us or The Americans will protect us.
 

What?

Jeff Goldblum What GIF by The Late Late Show with James Corden
 


@dapaterson
Not to pour too much more salt but as was previously noted...

Melanie Joly said:
Canada is not a nuclear power, it is not a military power,” she told CTV Power Play host Evan Solomon. “We’re a middle-sized power and what we’re good at is convening and making sure that diplomacy is happening, and meanwhile convincing other countries to do more.

Pixie dust, unicorns and rainbows ...
 
Such a ridiculous perspective.

I guess our contribution to WW2 was useless? We didn't go to Korea? Afghan didn't happen either? And nothing happened in Bosnia?

Clueless twitter-Party.
Ultimately though you are talking about the past. We aren’t a military power anymore and haven’t been for a while . It’s an honest statement. As much as I think her words are a bit misplaced she isn’t wrong in this case.

That doesn’t mean we can’t contribute. But let’s be honest about what we can actually do with what we have. And it isn’t that much in the grand scheme.

We lament that we are under equipped, under manned and lack capabilities and that the cupboard is worse than bare and yet when someone points it out we get offended.

I take her comments as a good sign that maybe, finally the gvt is actually admitting that we can’t do as much on the military side of things instead of saying a bunch of BS about how we are more than capable and that we contribute our share blah blah. The first step is admitting we have a problem and fix it.

Her statement and Anand saying that maybe we need to aggressively start increasing our defence spending and commitments is a sign that maybe a new narrative on defence spending is coming.

Like most, I’ll believe it when I see it but at least the gvt isn’t living in denial or trying to convince Canadians that everything in defence is all fine and dandy.
 
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