Poilievre calls Trudeau a ‘joke’ on world stage, won’t commit to NATO timeline

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Friday said he was “embarrassed” to watch Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at this week’s NATO leaders’ summit, where Trudeau was dogged by calls to commit to reaching the alliance’s target on defence spending.

But Poilievre didn’t say if he will also commit to Trudeau’s pledge that Canada will reach the target of spending at least two per cent of GDP on defence in eight years.

“It’s clear now that Justin Trudeau is seen as an absolute joke on the world stage,” he told reporters at a press conference in Montreal.

“I was embarrassed to see our prime minister treated like a human piñata by the rest of the NATO countries. They look upon him with total and complete ridicule. Canadians are tired of being embarrassed by a prime minister who prances around and preens, lectures the world, without doing his part.”

Trudeau travelled to Washington for the summit facing mounting pressure to provide a timeline on when Canada will reach the two per cent target.

American politicians in particular were openly critical of Trudeau. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson called Canada’s spending shortfalls and reliance on the U.S. “shameful,” and the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called the Trudeau government a “defense scofflaw.”

Canada currently spends 1.37 per cent of GDP on defence, and has only committed enough funding over the next five years to get that number up to 1.76 per cent by 2030.

Trudeau on Thursday said Canada will reach two per cent by 2032 “with confidence and assurance,” but gave no specifics on how that will be achieved. He also criticized the focus being given to the target that he called a “crass mathematical calculation.”

The Conservatives on Thursday did not specifically answer