Faced with the continuous criticisms of US President Donald Trump about military spending, Defense Minister Bill Blair, says that it is “absolutely attainable” that Canada meets the objective of NATO military investment of 2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product of the Gross Domestic Product in two years.
That accelerated schedule to achieve the goal for 2027 is about five years before what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in July.
“My goal is to do as quickly as possible and I am increasingly sure we can do it,” Blair said in response to CBC News questions.
Canada is among eight NATO allies of 30 estimated will not achieve the goal and has faced persistent criticism of its allies. According to an NATO report last year, it was estimated that Canada would spend approximately 1.37 percent of GDP in 2024.
Defense Minister Bill Blair says he could take “up to two years to reach that level of capacity.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last summer that he expected Canada to reach the target of the alliance defense for 2032.
Blair’s comment occurs one day after Trump used an international scenario for the first time to suggest once again that Canada should become a state of the United States.
During a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Trump said he will press all NATO countries, including Canada, to increase military spending to five percent of GDP.
While threatened to impose tariffs, Trump also said it would be “much better for national security” to merge the two countries.
“Do not forget it: we basically protect Canada,” Trump said at a press conference in Florida on January 7.

Blair said that the speed with which Canada can achieve that goal will depend on when the government has the funds, and that trying to accelerate the defense spending is not exclusively due to Trump’s comments.
“I think that attributing it only in response to an individual in particular is incorrect,” said Blair. “We have been working hard to accelerate that expense to do the job as quickly as possible. But that is of national interest in Canada, it is not only in response to the threats made by what we have always considered our closest ally and friend.”
Trudeau told NATO leaders last summer that the Government was on the way to reaching NATO’s expenditure objective by 2032. That official deadline has not changed, Blair’s office said, but the minister’s approach is to deal with to accelerate that schedule by completing individual projects faster. For one.
His office said these projects include contracts for submarines, ammunition and support for members, such as housing and child care. The Canadian Armed Forces, who face a personnel crisis, will also need personnel to operate everything, said Blair’s office.
“I think it is absolutely attainable that we can reach that level of spending. You have to do it with responsibility,” said Blair.
An analyst says that 2027 is “much more reasonable”
The Chief of the Army Defense Staff, General Jennie Carignan, said that the Canadian Armed Forces so far have the money they need to “start the process” to approach the NATO spending target, but added that this is always low revision.
Forces have been working in recent months to accelerate investments, he said.
During an interview with Rosemary Barton Live, the Chief of the General Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces, General Jennie Carignan, says that in recent months the Armed Forces have been accelerating investments, citing that the more they wait, the less team they can obtain for the same price. amount of money. ‘
“Because the more we hope, the less platforms or equipment we can get for the same amount of money,” said Carignan. Romero Barton live in an interview broadcast on Sunday. “So we have devised a path to follow to make investments before.”
Until now, attention has focused on investments in “preparation, professional behavior and people,” he said.
Dave Perry, president and executive director of the Canadian Institute of Global Affairs, says that the international reaction has been that Canada’s 2032 schedule is “too long”, especially while NATO speaks of increasing its expenditure reference point.
He said that a 2027 schedule is “much more reasonable.”
“But for Minister Blair to do that, he will need money and substantial and significant changes in the way the Canada government operates when it comes to approveing the injection of resources that he speaks of,” he said.
Perry said the government would have to review the mechanics of its operation to get away from the rules, reduce bureaucracy and change its mentality to invest more money quickly in the forces.
Trudeau defended his government’s history on Thursday, saying that defense spending has almost tripled since he assumed office in 2015. He said that the government will continue working with NATO members to “ensure that we are doing everything necessary to keep Canada safe. “