Canada could meet NATO’s 2 percent defence spending target sooner than planned, Defence Minister Bill Blair said on Jan. 24.
When asked whether Canada could accelerate efforts and meet the target in two years, Blair told reporters in Ottawa on Jan. 24 that it was “absolutely achievable,” though he did not commit to a firm deadline.
The two-year timeline had also been mentioned by Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan in a Jan. 22 interview with CTV News.
“It’s absolutely possible, and this is what we have been working on since I’ve come on board,” she said.
“The longer we wait, the less we’ll get for the same amount of money,” Carignan said. “This is a very simple fact—inflation. So, the faster we can tap into these investments and reach the 2 percent target, the faster we can work on the transformation and modernization that we need.”…