Charest – who made the announcement during a tour of Nova Scotia, a province home to large numbers of military personnel and veterans, said Canada had been underfunding its armed forces for too long and that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had underscored how ” unprepared »country really is.
“[Prime Minister Justin] Trinto’s indifference and inaction in supporting the Canadian Armed Forces has made it more difficult to retain qualified personnel, more difficult to recruit, more difficult to train, and more difficult for Canada to fulfill its obligations to its allies worldwide. “Our allies have taken note and are choosing to keep us out of important security arrangements,” Charest said, referring to the AUKUS military pact signed last year by Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
To bring Canada back into the mix, Charest said he would increase military spending to 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as “quickly and responsibly.” GDP is a measure used to measure the size of a country’s entire economy.
Under the current Liberal government, military spending was about 1.36 percent of GDP in 2021, according to NATO figures – well below what the country spent during the Cold War.
In the 1960s, Canada’s military spending was about 4 percent of GDP. It was about 2 percent in the 1980s before falling dramatically during a period of austerity and budget cuts in the 1990s.
All NATO members, including Canada, have pledged to spend 2 percent of national GDP on the military. But Canada, like some other countries, has done little to achieve this goal.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, left, and Secretary of Defense Anita Anand arrive in Ottawa for a press conference on Thursday, March 3, 2022. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press)
With the war in Ukraine raging, Defense Secretary Anita Anand recently said Canada would commit more money to the military in this week’s federal budget. To meet NATO’s goal, Canada’s defense budget will need to increase from its planned $ 32 billion spending target to approximately $ 58 billion.
Charest said that if he becomes prime minister, he will direct some of the promised new spending on building two new military bases in the Arctic – including a deep-water port – and buy two armed icebreakers to boost Canada’s presence in the region. He said he would work with the United States to modernize its defense and NORAD early warning systems and “explore” the possibility of upgrading its submarine fleet to do a better job of defending Canada’s three coasts.
The Liberal government restarted the fighter jet procurement process when it first took office in 2015, which Charest said was “irresponsible.”
An American F-35 fighter jet flies over the Eifel Mountains near Spangdahlem, Germany on February 23, 2022. (Harald Tittel / Associated Press)
While Trinto initially ran to oppose the purchase of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets, the government now appears ready to sign an agreement on these aircraft, which are already in use by the United States and other NATO allies.
Charest said the seven-year process of buying these jets was very slow. He said a government led by him would “streamline bureaucratic procedures” and “speed up competition” to speed up future markets and avoid costly delays.
In addition to current procurement issues, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has also struggled to recruit new members in recent years.
There is money in the books to increase the fighting force to 71,500 regular members and 30,000 reserves, but the CAF is in a very good spot. At the last count, there were only about 65,000 members of the regular forces.
Charest said he would try to make the CAF a more welcoming work environment by addressing the sexual misconduct that has plagued the military in recent years, limiting efforts to recruit more women.
The former Quebec prime minister said Trinto had overseen a “dysfunctional and unacceptable deterioration” in the CAF and the military had become a place where “women, minorities and LGBTQ + faced systemic and unjust barriers while participating in environments that should be safe and value based. . “
He said he would also try to attract recent CAF retirees with unspecified incentives and force Canadian colleges and universities to allow military recruits to set up recruiting centers on their campuses.
As for Canadian veterans, Charest promised a return to the pre-2006 Pension Act benefits available to disabled and injured veterans. The development of a new benefits and pension scheme has been a constant source of concern for former CAF members injured in the service.
It also promised new benefits for veterans with at least five years of regular force service or reserves who have been in the CAF for at least seven years. He said these benefits could include access to low-cost home loans, loans for veterans looking to start or expand a business, and training grants for those looking to study in another field.
