Canada risks 'diplomatic isolation' if it fails to meet NATO spending target, business leaders warn

One of the country's leading business voices is warning that Canada faces «diplomatic isolation» if it's not prepared to deliver a concrete plan next month to raise defence spending to meet NATO's benchmark.

The Business Council of Canada — which has been wading more and more into the debate on national security lately — made the assessment in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The letter comes as both NATO defence ministers and G7 leaders prepare to gather at separate meetings in Europe, and as leaders of the NATO alliance nations get ready for a summit in Washington, D.C. next month.

The council said the upcoming meeting in Washington could see Canada singled out. It is the only one of the 32 member nations that has not articulated a plan publicly to invest at least two per cent of gross domestic product in the military by the end of this decade.

«The consequences that would result from this diplomatic isolation, in terms of both our security and economic partnerships, will have broad ramifications for all Canadians,» says the two-page letter to the prime minister, dated June 7, 2024.

«Fortunately, it is not too late. Your government could still make a public statement prior to the summit that it will review and revise its defence spending plans to achieve the full two per cent by 2029-30.»

The council, composed of chief executives and entrepreneurs in the country's major companies, said Canada needs NATO in perilous and uncertain times.

«It is vital that Canadians work cooperatively with our NATO allies to defend our borders, our interests and our values,» says the letter. «If we, as a country, fail to make this benchmark level of investment in defence, as successive Canadian governments including yours have