Carney’s military buildup benefits the US, not Canada

 

Despite the PM’s lofty claims, Canada’s increased military spending will only deepen its entanglement with the US war machine

A few months ago, Prime Minister Mark Carney declared that Canada’s old relationship with the United States is “over.” Since his election victory on April 28, however, Carney has done a complete about-face, in action if not rhetoric. The Liberal government is currently tying Canada’s military and foreign policy even more tightly to the American empire, and a US administration whose annexationist rhetoric helped to propel Carney to office in the first place.

Carney claims that the process of “deepening integration” between the US and Canadian militaries is over. “We are in a position now where we co-operate when necessary,” he said, “but not necessarily co-operate.” In practice, though, Carney’s military policy looks exactly like the deepening integration he has decried.

The prime minister often speaks about reducing Canada’s reliance on the US, but his government is ramping up military spending, which is precisely what the Trump and Biden administrations have urged. The new Liberal government is also deepening Canada’s role in European rearmament, which serves the Trump administration’s goal of increasing NATO members’ proportionate defence spending.

Ottawa has also committed to “strengthening NORAD” and is in talks to join Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defence system, a project that would cost Canadians $61 billion. On top of that, the government continues to mull a $19 billion purchase of US-made F-35 warplanes, whose spare parts will be owned and controlled by the US government. The Department of National Defence will complete its review of the fighter jet purchase sometime this summer, but it refuses to state whether its report will be released to the public.

On June 9, Carney announced that Canada will meet the two percent of GDP spending target pushed by Washington, committing $9 billion in new funding for the Department of National Defence over the next ten months. This guideline was always arbitrary, as evidenced by the fact that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is now calling for five percent spending after Trump demanded as much.  (more...)

Carney’s military buildup benefits the US, not Canada