Should Canada raise defence spending to 2% of GDP?

[Zulu29]

Read that during the upcoming NATO meetings in Wales there will be a big push to have all members raise they're defence spending to 2%. Currently only the US and UK do, Germany, Norway and France are close. Canada is around 1%.

Do you think the government should move to 2%?

[T@T]

One word...yes!

Scale back after the world gets it's enima.

[FlameOn]

Possibly if only to bolster arctic defense spending... Once the Russians are done in Europe and global warming kicks in a bit more, I'd bet good money they will turn their attention towards us with our abundance of northern energy and freshwater resources in the 7-15 year time frame. Our armed forces will need to be ready for that task when it happens and not gimped by years of limited funding We already have a competing claim to several border islands as well as the resources over the North Pole that are just waiting to blow up into diplomatic incidents.

Given how aggressive Russia is right now, it only makes sense for us to adjust our defense spending to match if we want to be able to enforce our northern border. The US can't be counted on in this case as they have competing interests, contrary to ours, in the area. For example, their views of what a "northern/northwest passage" are and how that is going to work within our borders are vastly different than what our definition is.

I'd like to see bolstered and modernized naval forces, modernized air force and expanded special forces in this case. If only the procurement depts knew how to control cost overruns better.

[Zulu29]

I think our spending is something like 19 billion per year, to double it would be 38 billion or more. In an ideal world I would say yeah raise the defence budget but it concerns me where and what the Feds would have to cut in order to free up the money. Healthcare to me is not an option to cut, we already spend very little on infrastructure, not sure what else could be cut?

[WilsonFourTwo]

A quick Google search shows (as of 2012):

Canada Military Spending - $22.6B (14th), 1.3% GDP

I'm not sure how I feel about adding another $8, $9, $10 billion to that figure. I completely understand why some people support it, but as mentioned earlier, I'm not sure how to justify it in an era of deficits, crumbling infrastructure, and health care crunches.

I suppose that (imo) military spending is a huge priority, but it's not the number one priority. I wouldn't complain too much if spending ended up at 2%....but it wouldn't be my first focus area.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Zulu29

I think our spending is something like 19 billion per year, to double it would be 38 billion or more. In an ideal world I would say yeah raise the defence budget but it concerns me where and what the Feds would have to cut in order to free up the money. Healthcare to me is not an option to cut, we already spend very little on infrastructure, not sure what else could be cut?

We spend about twice as much on foreign aid and about the same on immigrants.

Start there!

[Zulu29]

Originally Posted by T@T

We spend about twice as much on foreign aid and about the same on immigrants.

Start there!

Green text or are you serious?

[Timbo]

For defence of this great nation... Yes Yes Yes

[Finger Cookin]

No.

[photon]

I'm not qualified to render a meaningful opinion, I just have a bias because I want to look at cool military toys at airshows and the like.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Zulu29

Green text or are you serious?

The world is going to Ch!t, we need to do our part for NATO to protect ourselfs and others.

But by all means please help me in finding another place to cut from.

[Codes]

I say yes, but as others have asked, what do we cut? I would be very supportive of raising the GST back to 7% to generate more revenue. It's not just the military that needs additional funding.

[CaptainYooh]

I wouldn't want Canada increasing its military budget. I actually would much prefer if Canada was neutral, like Switzerland, although I do realize this is not a realistic preference due to our geographically and historically natural alliance with US. The cost of Afghanistan campaign to Canadian taxpayers was huge and, IMO for the most part unwarranted. The majority population of Afghanistan still hates us and our armed forces were not able to achieve positive democratic changes that have a chance to last despite our soldiers' great dedication to the cause.

Spending more on military would mean more peacekeeping missions in dangerous areas of the world that don't necessarily affect us, as a country. For as long as we still have homelessness, child poverty, deficient health care, grossly inadequate seniors and disabled care, military spending should be brought to minimum. The above takes clear priority.

[Zulu29]

Originally Posted by T@T

The world is going to Ch!t, we need to do our part for NATO to protect ourselfs and others.

But by all means please help me in finding another place to cut from.

I just didn't know we spent that much on foreign aid and immigrants...now I feel dumb.

[Zulu29]

Originally Posted by Codes

I say yes, but as others have asked, what do we cut? I would be very supportive of raising the GST back to 7% to generate more revenue. It's not just the military that needs additional funding.

Off topic, but I would support the raise in GST if it meant a cut in income tax.

[Finger Cookin]

The US should cut its defense spending to 2% of its GDP, and give the savings to member NATO nations to raise their defense spending to 2% of relative GDP. The US would probably still have money left over to raise social spending or cut taxes. Everyone wins!

[undercoverbrother]

Yes but I am biased.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by T@T

One word...yes!

Scale back after the world gets it's enima.

Originally Posted by T@T

The world is going to Ch!t, we need to do our part for NATO to protect ourselfs and others.

But by all means please help me in finding another place to cut from.

I'd rather we spend this money on education.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

I'd rather we spend this money on education.

Good call, up the number of Russian language classes.

[photon]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Good call, up the number of Russian language classes.

Don't laugh that's part of our official defence plan.