
Carney says Canada will spend 5% of its GDP on defence by 2035
THE HAGUE — Canada and its NATO allies agreed at their annual summit on Wednesday to substantially hike their defence spending target to five per cent of annual GDP by 2035, Prime Minister Mark Carney said.
Carney warned the country can no longer rely on its geography for protection as new weapons and threats emerge, and argued the deterrent value of the alliance will increase as members collectively embark on a massive defence buildup.
“The deterrence element of NATO has just gone up substantially and it’s crucial — and we would really feel it if we went in the other direction,” Carney said at a press conference on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague.
NATO members agreed Wednesday to a plan put forward by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte that says they will invest 3.5 per cent of their national GDP in core defence needs — such as jets and other hardware — and another 1.5 per cent in related areas, such as infrastructure and cybersecurity.