The “guns versus butter” debate over how the federal government allocates funding between the military and social programs requires serious scrutiny as the stakes increase.
At the recent G20 meeting in Brazil, Prime Minister Trudeau said Canada plans to “invest significantly more in defence” to meet the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) two per cent gross domestic product (GDP) target.
Yet, last month, the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) released a report that showed that Canada’s military expenditures will have to double to reach the NATO two per cent GDP target.
The Trudeau government announced the deadline of 2032 to meet the target at the 75th anniversary NATO summit in Washington, D.C. in July.
However, the PBO report entitled “The Fiscal Implications of Meeting the NATO Military Spending Target” estimated that military spending will have to rise from $41 billion this year to $81 billion over the next eight years. The PBO also explained that this increase risks higher federal deficits and debt.
Over the past decade, Canada’s military spending has increased 100 per cent from $20 billion in 2014 to $41 billion this year, according to the latest NATO Defence Expenditures report. At our current level of military spending, Canada is at 1.4 per cent of GDP and ranked 7th highest among the 32 transatlantic allies and 16th highest in the world.
At the G20 press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Trudeau also discussed Canada’s plan to modernize the North American Aerospace Defense Command for a cost of $38.6 billion and the purchase of a new fleet of submarines that is estimated at $100 billion.
Last year, which was the hottest year on record with out-of-control wildfires, Ottawa announced costly, carbon-intensive defence purchases: $19 billion for F-35 fighter jets, $3.6 billion for strategic refuelers, and $2.5 billion for armed drones.
These weapon systems do not make Canadians more secure, but exacerbate the climate crisis and poverty. Across the country, there are more homeless encampments and food bank use. Communities are unprepared for extreme weather events like heat waves, droughts and flooding.
There are opportunity costs or benefits lost to military spending. An additional $40 billion per year for the military will come at a cost to urgently needed investments in affordable housing, health care, education, renewable energy and environmental protection.
Ottawa’s inadequate spending for domestic needs matches Canada’s miserly funding for biodiversity, climate finance and sustainable development. At the biodiversity summit in Colombia this year, Canada announced a mere $63 million for new projects to protect nature. Ottawa pledged a paltry $16 million for the loss and damage fund to aid developing countries coping with natural disasters. Worse still, Canada has never met the United Nations’ objective of 0.7 per cent of gross national income for official development assistance.
By contrast, last month, the Trudeau government announced another $64.8 million for more guns and ammunition to Ukraine. Since February 2022, Canada has given $4.5 billion in military assistance to Kyiv to prolong, not end the tragic war in Ukraine.
The UN has repeatedly sounded the alarm that the world is not on track to reduce emissions under the Paris Agreement or achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, because of inadequate investment.
With ever-rising military spending, Canada cannot meet its UN goals and G20 commitments to “build a just world and a sustainable planet, while leaving no one behind”.
Though the G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration did not mention defence budgets, it did state, “Only with peace will we achieve sustainability and prosperity.”
The federal government must not only abandon its plan to meet the NATO two per cent GDP target but withdraw from the alliance.
Ottawa needs an independent foreign policy and to work cooperatively with the international community on common security, peace and development. These are the messages that activists will be bringing to Montreal as they protest Canada’s involvement in the U.S.-led military alliance during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from November 23-25. Find out more about the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network.
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