[Towered]

‘If the U.S. no longer wants to lead, Canada will’: Carney proposes global free trade coalition | Watch News Videos Online

Watch ‘If the U.S. no longer wants to lead, Canada will’: Carney proposes global free trade coalition Video Online, on GlobalNews.ca

globalnews.ca

Strong words from Prime Minister Carney today.

What does Canada leading the world look like? The below piece has some ideas:

It’s time for Canada to have a foreign policy

Sign up for A Stronger Canada for The Trump Era to receive the latest analysis on Canada-U.S. relations from Policy Options, as soon as it’s published. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent trip to France and the United Kingdom was a reminder there is a world beyond Donald Trump. It’s been quite a...

policyoptions.irpp.org

I like what I'm hearing from him. He looks and sounds Prime Ministerial. **** Pollievre and his endless vitriol.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

^I mean, if we wanted a another jaded fascist, vote for Pollievre. For me though...the one to the South of us enough, to put that mildly. And I am pretty sure I am not alone in concluding that.

 

[Admiral Beez]

‘If the U.S. no longer wants to lead, Canada will’: Carney proposes global free trade coalition | Watch News Videos Online

Watch ‘If the U.S. no longer wants to lead, Canada will’: Carney proposes global free trade coalition Video Online, on GlobalNews.ca

globalnews.ca

Strong words from Prime Minister Carney today.

What does Canada leading the world look like? The below piece has some ideas:

It’s time for Canada to have a foreign policy

Sign up for A Stronger Canada for The Trump Era to receive the latest analysis on Canada-U.S. relations from Policy Options, as soon as it’s published. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent trip to France and the United Kingdom was a reminder there is a world beyond Donald Trump. It’s been quite a...

policyoptions.irpp.org

A defence policy, beyond NORAD and NATO would be nice as well.

 

[Jonny5]

I'm not sure where this one belongs, but it appears Pakistan and India may have a scenario of a rapidly escalating situation to a full scale war.

Indian fighter jets are now mass bombing locations in Pakistan.

 

[afransen]

Interesting video recapping the unmanned vehicles/weapons that Ukraine is pioneering in their asymmetric war with Russia. Includes a small unmanned FPV drone carrier boat.

 

[Northern Light]

Announcement later today from PM Carney that Canada will meet the 2% of GDP target for defence spending by the end of this fiscal year (March '26).

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-canada-to-meet-two-per-cent-nato-1.7555928

A lot of this will be Cap-X

From the above:

But there are other components, including a simple pay raise for members of the military.............

And perhaps the most notable move, arguably an accounting cheat............ The Coast Guard will be completely folded into the Department of National Defence, instantly adding 2.5B to defense spending without actually adding any net new dollars.

In fairness to the PM, this is apparently a common practice in many countries.

***

Finally, and this I quite like:

" .... a new defence industrial strategy, which will focus on meeting Canada's military through homegrown production."

 

[Northern Light]

An article on the above in the Globe and Mail as well:

Carney to announce Canada’s defence spending will hit NATO’s target of 2% of GDP this fiscal year, sources say

Canada’s existing level of investment has been criticized as insufficient at a time of increasing global threats

www.theglobeandmail.com

The above has some additional detail on spending plans:

and

 

[Richard White]

I would have loved to see a few new subs. Something to patrol the arctic with a caterpillar drive, something with which you could park a couple hundred warheads off Washington and New York and no one would know anything about it till it was all over.

 

[Northern Light]

I would have loved to see a few new subs. Something to patrol the arctic with a caterpillar drive, something with which you could park a couple hundred warheads off Washington and New York and no one would know anything about it till it was all over.

Subs are coming, just not yet.

 

[afransen]

I would have loved to see a few new subs. Something to patrol the arctic with a caterpillar drive, something with which you could park a couple hundred warheads off Washington and New York and no one would know anything about it till it was all over.

Odd fantasy.

 

[Richard White]

Odd fantasy.

It's a quote from The Hunt for Red October.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

It's a quote from The Hunt for Red October.

One ping only.

Anyways, re: new expenditures - I wonder if they can actually fit all of it in the fiscal.

AoD

 

[guavadelic]

Something I wondered about is if Canada can spend the money to upgrade the passenger rail corridor through Kingston and have the investment go towards the NATO target since CFB Kingston is located there? They'll have to work with the railway owners CN but i'm sure some upgrades could be done to add capacity and improve reliability of the VIA service.

I know some European countries have included upgrades to their passenger rail systems as part of defense spending since the justification is the rail service transports their troops.

 

[Towered]

It's a quote from The Hunt for Red October.

Solid reference, but I'm sure there are quite a few members here who aren't up to date on a 35 year old Cold War thriller

 

[lenaitch]

An article on the above in the Globe and Mail as well:

Carney to announce Canada’s defence spending will hit NATO’s target of 2% of GDP this fiscal year, sources say

Canada’s existing level of investment has been criticized as insufficient at a time of increasing global threats

www.theglobeandmail.com

The above has some additional detail on spending plans:

View attachment 657418

View attachment 657419

and

View attachment 657420

It will be interesting to see some meat on the bones of the plan to enclose some or all of the Coast Guard into the NATO commitment. NATO has fairly clear rules on what it will accept as part of a member nation's commitment.

The government's own release says:

"Expanding the reach, security mandate, and abilities of the Canadian Coast Guard and integrating it into our NATO defence capabilities – to better secure our sovereignty and expand maritime surveillance."

With respect to financial commitments, NATO says, in part:

"In such cases, expenditure is included only in proportion to the forces that are trained in military tactics, are equipped as a military force, can operate under direct military authority in deployed operations, and can, realistically, be deployed outside national territory in support of a military force."

.

Our Coast Guard is a civilian, unionized maritime maintenance and navigation service. The government simply can't wave their hand and say 'you're part of the Navy now'.

Something I wondered about is if Canada can spend the money to upgrade the passenger rail corridor through Kingston and have the investment go towards the NATO target since CFB Kingston is located there? They'll have to work with the railway owners CN but i'm sure some upgrades could be done to add capacity and improve reliability of the VIA service.

I know some European countries have included upgrades to their passenger rail systems as part of defense spending since the justification is the rail service transports their troops.

I hope you didn't pull anything making that leap. The government could anything it wants to be be 'defence spending' but not 'NATO spending'.

Here's the entire NATO document.

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49198.htm