Trudeau said Canada will never meet NATO military spending target, leaked intel claims

The Washington Post says it has seen a Pentagon document criticizing Canada's military readiness among materials allegedly posted online by a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman arrested last week. The leaked documents say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told NATO officials privately that Canada will never reach the military spending target agreed to by members of the alliance. Retired Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie says the Canadian Armed Forces is not pulling its weight when it comes to defence capability and military readiness.

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[justinleon]

i served in the military and in the past, we wouldnt complain too much about defense spending as we were in a more peaceful era. i actually felt we should spent 1.7% of gdp spending. but after the ukraine conflict intensified, i felt we would need to meet 2.0%. someone needs to ask JT why we will never meet 2.0%? we have a larger economy than russia. australia has a larger military, and they have smaller economy and less people than us. i hope canadians raise more questions about this to their politicians

[blowinkk]

How can we when Trudeau gives away all our money?

[BlueStationProject]

As soon as the question was asked, he looked down in shame. Pathetic and weak.

[alexm]

Our Liberal "leader" AGAIN answering a direct question with an indirect answer. Not only are NATO members alarmed with the state of our military, CANADIANS are alarmed with the lack of defense spending / budget. It shouldn't be the responsibility of other countries to carry us through tumultuous times. We need to hold our own with RELEVANT defense resources & technology. As a G7 country, we should be able to maintain "par" with our NATO allies. If it's a matter of funding, we should consider replacing our Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, with someone competent in managing a Trillion dollar budget. Canadians are being taxed heavily through hard times. The funds are there...

[lloydmunga]

His statement doesn’t mean he’s not going to bankrupt Canada trying because he will

[BrixxonLP]

You don't need to have a major in psychology to see when someone is discomforted by a question and clearly lying.

[glukmanmsn]

This is absolutely unacceptable the Prime minister to answer the questions this way, and that's to only about journalists.

[nuxkamina]

These would have been good questions in parliament instead of all that vacation nonsense.

[gajorg]

I've been saying our leaders have failed the armed forces for decades.... and its true. Its not just Trudeau, the cons and NDP are the same. We need a government willing to invest in our armed forces not only for defense, but also the social good and the opportunity it provides to Canadians.

[jeffpollard]

Canada needs to show the rest of NATO, that it is willing to pull its weight in Military spending NOW! Get rid of ALL these ridiculous Politicians!!!

[trevortoop]

Trudeau's fantasy about what a Canadian is, and what Canada represents is just that... a fantasy.
Time to say good bye Peter Pan.

[MysticalGesture]

We might be concerned if America suddenly decides to Annex Canada at some point after this.

[mikestewart]

We could, if the Government stopped WASTING our taxes!!!

[Harohikun]

Gotta love Trudeau dodging the questions.

Imagine the length of the video if someone were to make one with all of his non-answers like “why are we debating bout x, when what’s important is the budget where we’re giving increase in funding for health/dental care”.

[InterestedCitizen]

As a Canadian I am so worried about Northern Canada being easily over taken by Russia, China or whomever. Build up defense!

[crushmash]

2% is nothing on that scale, especially if you want to keep your commitment to NATO. How many trips to Jamaica would that be?

He is an embarrassment to our country.

[jptrainor]

All in favour of transferring CBC's budget to defense say aye.

[john_doe_not_found]

It was laughable to suggest Canada lead a peace keeping force in Haiti. To take control of 11 million people living in slums who view outsiders as hostile invaders, Canada would need an initial landing force of 150, 000 to secure the island and go house to house clearing the island of weapons. Afterwards probably 40, 000 to keep peace on the island until the police force was reconstituted and elections held.

Canada doesn't have the people, the budget, or the ships to stand up and transport such a force. So that was never going to be a reality.

2% of GDP ought to be a floor. It is too late when you need the troops and don't have the troops nor the infrastructure to support and equip the troops. Canada is definitely a nation of freeloaders.

One day when the NW passage is sailable, America will call it international waters. And Canada won't be able to do a thing, because America has been patrolling and protecting it all along, not Canada.

[barriemurdock]

We are giving up our sovereignty to our neighbours if we don’t pay for our own defence.
So sad.

[goodvibes]

Canada, time to start pulling your own weight. You can't rely on the USA. Even Americans are learning really fast that they can't rely on the USA... If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready..