U.S. ambassador downplays Canada's military spending shortfall, says Washington takes a 'broader view'

The U.S. ambassador to Canada is cutting Ottawa some slack on meeting NATO's benchmark for defence spending.

Speaking Friday at a panel at the Canadian War Museum marking the 75th anniversary of NATO's formation, Ambassador David Cohen said the United States takes «a broader view» that goes beyond the alliance's military spending target for member nations — two per cent of national gross domestic product.

«We choose to look at Canada's overall commitment to defence,» Cohen said.

«We do look at the percentage of GDP that is spent on defence but we look at a wide range of other factors.»

Those other factors, he said, include the trajectory of Canada's defence spending, its participation in continental defence and its recent announcements of planned military equipment purchases totalling $44 billion. The bulk of those investments involve the air force buying F-35 fighters and P-8 Orion surveillance planes from the U.S.

Cohen has downplayed the significance of the two per cent metric in the past, but his remarks Friday were among the most pointed he's made publicly on the issue.

Canada, like other NATO allies, agreed last summer to make the two per cent target «an enduring commitment.» More recently, the alliance's secretary general and other member nations have publicly stated that each country should have a plan to meet the goal.

Canada's military budget currently sits at 1.38 per cent of GDP. Neither the governing Liberals nor the Opposition Conservatives have laid out a strategy to meet the two per cent commitment.

Cohen's remarks were made in front of a panel that included British High Commissioner Susannah Goshko, Finnish Ambassador Jari Vilén, Liberal parliamentary secretary for defence Marie-France Lalonde and the military's