Canada needs a 'concrete plan' to hit NATO defence spending pledge, says U.S. NATO envoy

The federal government is facing renewed pressure on defence spending as the United States urges Ottawa to come up with a concrete plan to meet its commitments as a NATO ally.

Canada's defence spending falls well short of its promise to spend 2 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. As more allies hit the target, pressure is mounting on Ottawa to stop falling behind.

«Canada is hovering now just above 1.3 per cent and has no concrete plan to get to that 2 per cent, while other allies have made and created plans to get there, if not this year, in the next few years,» U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO Julianne Smith said in an interview with .

«Those timelines and those plans are important because it showcases a shared commitment and it showcases intent,» Smith told host David Cochrane. «Here inside the NATO alliance, and certainly back in Washington, we very much encourage our friends in Canada to develop some sort of concrete plan to meet that 2 per cent pledge.»

Earlier this week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged the federal government to provide a timeline for meeting its defence spending pledge.

NATO allies pledged in 2014 to increase defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by 2024. Stoltenberg announced last week that he expects 18 allies to hit or exceed that target this year. Canada is not among those allies.

In 2023, Canada invested an estimated 1.38 per cent of GDP in defence, putting it 25th out of 30 allies in terms of defence spending.

At the 2023 NATO leaders' summit, Canada signed a joint communique committing allies to meeting the 2 per cent target. That communique also acknowledged that in «many cases, expenditure beyond 2 per cent of GDP will be needed in order to remedy existing