Liberal leadership contender Mark Carney is expected to announce on Wednesday that if he becomes prime minister he’s committed to reaching NATO’s military investment benchmark of two per cent of gross domestic product by the end of 2030, CBC News has learned.
Carney’s commitment to defence spending is somewhat more ambitious than the government’s official timeline of 2032, but not the defence minister’s goal of 2027.
The former central banker’s promise to the military is one of the changes Carney is proposing in his speech at the Gordie Howe International Bridge in Windsor just days after U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to pause his tariff threat, according to a campaign source.
Carney’s announcement will focus on what Canada needs to do to strengthen its position at home including its national security, regardless of Trump’s threats, the source said.
Trump pushing for even higher NATO military spending
Trump has repeatedly called on Canada to become the America’s 51st state, including on Monday just hours before agreeing to postpone punishing tariffs for 30 days. The U.S. president said last month it would be “much better national security” to merge the two countries because “don’t forget: we basically protect Canada.”
Trump then used the international stage at the World Economic Forum to announce he’ll be pushing all NATO countries, including Canada, to increase military spending to five per cent of GDP.
Canada spent roughly 1.37 per cent of GDP last year on defence spending and is among eight NATO allies out of 30 that are estimated to be falling short of the target.
After mounting and persistent criticism from allies, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told NATO members in July that Canada would hit the alliance’s spending benchmark by 2032. But he also called it a “crass calculation” and said “we continually step up and punch above our weight.”
Last week, amid pressure from Trump, defence minister Bill Blair said he thought it was “absolutely achievable” to accelerate the timeline by about five years to 2027.
Defence Minister Bill Blair says it could take ‘as much as two years to get to that level of capability.’ Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last summer that he expected Canada to reach the alliance’s defence spending target by 2032.
Blair is one of more than 20 ministers so far who have lined up behind Carney to support his leadership bid.
Over the past week Carney has done interviews on U.S. TV with CNN’s Jake Tapper and did an exclusive interview on Britain’s BBC Newsnight the day Trump backed down from his tariffs, where he spoke about standing up to the U.S. president. But Carney has not done interviews on any national Canadian political news program.
The race to replace Trudeau could start to narrow on Friday when the party’s six official candidates have to submit a $125,000 non-refundable payment to stay in the running.
