Trudeau heads for the hotseat at NATO summit as allies question Canada's defence commitments

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heads to Washington today for a meeting of NATO nations — where he's widely expected to hear some tough talk from allies behind closed doors about his government's refusal to deliver a clear plan to meet the alliance's defence spending targets.

Twenty-three of 32 NATO member nations are expected this year to meet the alliance target of spending a minimum of two per cent of their gross domestic products on defence. Canada is among a handful of NATO countries that don't meet that benchmark.

Former Canadian ambassador to NATO Kerry Buck said her experience of these summits suggests that the naming and shaming goes on behind closed doors at individual bilateral meetings.

When all the leaders gather together in formal sessions, however, names are not mentioned. Instead, statistics showing each country's contribution are flashed up on a screen.

«It's used as a political club,» Buck said of the two per cent benchmark. «And no doubt, unless there's a signal before the summit, Canada will get beaten about the head and shoulders with that club.»

Canada currently has a plan to get its military spending up to 1.76 per cent of GDP.

The Liberal government has vowed that planned military spending which has not yet been approved will push the country over the two per cent line. But those statements fall short of the clear plan NATO is expecting to see.

«If the government is smart, they should announce two per cent with a date and a plan before Washington. Because the longer we hang out there as the outlier, the bigger target space we're giving to whoever the next American president is,» Buck said.

In a background technical briefing, senior government officials insisted Friday that the federal government's new