CBC News Network goes with Erin O'Toole's reaction to the US pause on the Permanent Joint Board on Defense
Canada just hit the NATO 2% defense spending target for the first time in decades — but it's mostly creative accounting, not real military muscle. Carney's government is counting these toward the target:
➡️Veterans pensions & benefits (past service, not current readiness)
➡️Massive military pay raises and personnel costs
➡️Canadian Coast Guard operations (unarmed civilian vessels now under Defence)
➡️Aid and military assistance to Ukraine
➡️Other "whole-of-government" items like base infrastructure and loosely related spending across departments
Result? Canada claims ~$63B / 2% of GDP, but analysts say much of it doesn't build new combat capability or deployable forces
It clearly hasn't satisfied U.S. demands for genuine burden-sharing under Trump.
Prioritizing pensions, Coast Guard, and foreign aid over tanks, fighters, and Arctic patrol ships raises questions about whether it's real defense or just number-padding
Canada still lags in key NATO metrics for equipment and readiness
A strong Canada that prioritizes hard power over rhetoric benefits us all. Unfortunately, Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments. DoW is pausing the Permanent Joint Board on Defense to reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defense. 1/3