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Justin Trudeau hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

Justin Trudeau hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

Canada says it will look at increasing its defence spending and tacked on 10 more Russian names to an ever growing sanctions list.

By Tonda MacCharles
Ottawa Bureau
Mon., March 7, 2022

Riga, LATVIA—On the 13th day of the brutal Russian bid to claim Ukraine as its own, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is showing up at the Latvian battle group led by Canadian soldiers, waving the Maple Leaf and a vague hint at more money for the military.

Canada has been waving the NATO flag for nearly seven years in Latvia as a bulwark against Russia’s further incursions in Eastern Europe.

Canada stepped up to lead one of NATO’s four battle groups in 2015 — part of the defensive alliance’s display of strength and solidarity with weaker member states after Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Trudeau arrived in the Latvian capital late Monday after meetings in the U.K. with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Earlier Monday, faced with a seemingly unstoppable war in Ukraine, Trudeau said he will look at increasing Canada’s defence spending. Given world events, he said there are “certainly reflections to have.”

And Canada tacked on 10 more Russian names to an ever-growing sanctions list.

The latest round of sanctions includes names Trudeau said were identified by jailed Russian opposition leader and Putin nemesis Alexei Navalny.

However, on a day when Trudeau cited the new sanctions, and Johnson touted new measures meant to expose Russian property owners in his country, Rutte admitted sanctions are not working.

Yet they all called for more concerted international efforts over the long haul, including more economic measures and more humanitarian aid, with Johnson and Rutte divided over how quickly countries need to get off Russian oil and gas.

The 10 latest names on Canada’s target list do not include Roman Abramovich — a Russian billionaire Navalny has been flagging to Canada since at least 2017. Canada appears to have sanctioned about 20 of the 35 names on Navalny’s list.

The Conservative opposition says the Liberal government is not yet exerting maximum pressure on Putin, and should do more to bolster Canadian Forces, including by finally approving the purchase of fighter jets.

Foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said in an interview that Ottawa must still sanction “additional oligarchs close to President Putin who have significant assets in Canada.”

Abramovich owns more than a quarter of the public shares in steelmaking giant Evraz, which has operations in Alberta and Saskatchewan and has supplied most of the steel for the government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline project.

Evraz’s board of directors also includes two more Russians the U.S. government identified as “oligarchs” in 2019 — Aleksandr Abramov and Aleksandr Frolov — and its Canadian operations have received significant support from the federal government.

That includes at least $27 million in emergency wage subsidies during the pandemic, as well as $7 million through a fund meant to help heavy-polluters reduce emissions that cause climate change, according to the company’s most recent annual report.

In addition to upping defence spending, the Conservatives want NORAD’s early warning system upgraded, naval shipbuilding ramped up and Arctic security bolstered.

In London, Johnson sat down with Trudeau and Rutte at the Northolt airbase. Their morning meetings had a rushed feel, with Johnson starting to usher press out before Trudeau spoke. His office said later that the British PM couldn’t squeeze the full meeting in at 10 Downing Street because Johnson’s “diary” was so busy that day. The three leaders held an afternoon news conference at 10 Downing.

But before that Trudeau met with the Queen, saying she was “insightful” and they had a “useful, for me anyway, conversation about global affairs.”

Trudeau meets with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Tuesday in Latvia.

The prime minister will also meet with three Baltic leaders, the prime ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, in the Latvian capital of Riga.

The Liberals announced they would increase the 500 Canadian Forces in Latvia by another 460 troops. The Canadians are leading a multinational battle group, one of four that are part of NATO’s deployments in the region.

Another 3,400 Canadians could be deployed to the region in the months to come, on standby for NATO orders.

But Canada’s shipments of lethal aid to Ukraine were slow to come in the view of the Conservatives, and the Ukrainian Canadian community.

And suddenly Western allies are eyeing each other’s defence commitments.

At the Downing Street news conference, Rutte noted the Netherlands will increase its defence budget to close to two per cent of GDP. Germany has led the G7, and doubled its defence budget in the face of Putin’s invasion and threats. Johnson said the U.K. defence spending is about 2.4 per cent and declined to comment on Canada’s defence spending which is 1.4 per cent of GDP.

But Johnson didn’t hold back.

“What we can’t do, post the invasion of Ukraine is assume that we go back to a kind of status quo ante, a kind of new normalization in the way that we did after the … seizure of Crimea and the Donbas area,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to recognize that things have changed and that we need a new focus on security and I think that that is kind of increasingly understood by everybody.”

Trudeau stood by his British and Dutch counterparts and pledged Canada would do more.

He defended his government’s record, saying Ottawa is gradually increasing spending over the next decade by 70 per cent. Then Trudeau admitted more might be necessary.

“We also recognize that context is changing rapidly around the world and we need to make sure that women and men have certainty and our forces have all the equipment necessary to be able to stand strongly as we always have. As members of NATO. We will continue to look at what more we can do.”

The three leaders — Johnson, a conservative and Trudeau and Rutte, progressive liberals — in a joint statement said they “will continue to impose severe costs on Russia.”

Arriving for the news conference from Windsor Castle, Trudeau had to detour to enter Downing Street as loud so-called Freedom Convoy protesters bellowed from outside the gate. They carried signs marked “Tuck Frudeau” and “Free Tamara” (Lich).

Protester Jeff Wyatt who said he has no Canadian ties told the Star he came to stand up for Lich and others who were leading a “peaceful protest” worldwide against government “lies” about COVID-19 and what he called Trudeau’s “tyranny.”

Elsewhere in London, outside the Russian embassy, other protesters and passersby reflected on what they said was real tyranny — the Russian attack on Ukraine. “I think we should be as tough as possible to get this stopped, as tough as possible,” said protester Clive Martinez.
 
I think it’s more how in-step the MND is with GoC. I think housing and healthcare (the part that Feds can influence) are the closest crocodiles to the GoC.
I think the MND and CDS are a lot closer to being in step with “how things are going to go down” in the next couple of years. GoC will figure out what it has to do to keep its big neighbor to the South happy. Canada is beyond the point of having full control of its own destiny.
 
Some GoC-aspiring parties will continue doing what they must in order to keep voters happy.

One thing a lot of Canadians seem to enjoy is running the US down.

And have you heard about those psych experiments that find people choose to deny someone else a larger payoff and get nothing themselves, rather than have a small payout themselves?
 
One thing a lot of Canadians seem to enjoy is running the US down.

Which is ironic, given how Canada has de-powered itself to the point of now being subtly directed by the US how to invest in a number of wider security-related capabilities.

And have you heard about those psych experiments that find people choose to deny someone else a larger payoff and get nothing themselves, rather than have a small payout themselves?

Some Canadians complaining that CAF family members were getting standby flights on DND's contracted service air flights led contributed to that service's demise...of course said Canadians complaining wouldn't want to have their families picked up and moved around the country every few years, to reestablish employment and schools and the like...
 
Some Canadians complaining that CAF family members were getting standby flights on DND's contracted service air flights led contributed to that service's demise...of course said Canadians complaining wouldn't want to have their families picked up and moved around the country every few years, to reestablish employment and schools and the like...
What’s the over under on those “some Canadians” being the civilian DND employees?
 
Some Canadians complaining that CAF family members were getting standby flights on DND's contracted service air flights led contributed to that service's demise...

This is no different than one or two karens complaining about some nonsensical thing and since they yell loud enough, the approving authority or authorities caving in because they have no balls.
 
Because no one else in the country can do that. ;)
"We bring specialized skill sets and capabilities to this extremely important tasking, these capabilities are unique to that of any other department in the federal government..."

<Que the Class A reservists, augmented by 15yo cadets, showing up with those mini-shovels in 3...2...1>
 
"We bring specialized skill sets and capabilities to this extremely important tasking, these capabilities are unique to that of any other department in the federal government..."

<Que the Class A reservists, augmented by 15yo cadets, showing up with those mini-shovels in 3...2...1>

We're alot cheaper than good old regular labour at $20/hr.

Maybe we need to up our rates so as not to become the option of 'cheapest resort' ;)
 
When it comes to Eastern European countries arming up big time in light of the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, I can’t say any of them give me pause to think… “Is Poland secretly planning to invade Germany, or any other country in Europe?”

Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, etc etc - I’d actually feel quite safe if any of those countries became a solid pillar of the eastern flank. (Even though Ukraine very much already is now.)

I imagine some of the quantities being purchased is that Poland can bypass Germany if a situation like this ever flares up again.

Instead of Germany being the gate keeper and slowly allowing other countries to donate kit to Ukraine, Poland has plenty of kit for itself - and can donate whatever surplus it has to someone else if need be.

(Or they just decided to order some actual combat spares, in the west seem hesitant to do.)
 
When it comes to Eastern European countries arming up big time in light of the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, I can’t say any of them give me pause to think… “Is Poland secretly planning to invade Germany, or any other country in Europe?”

Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, etc etc - I’d actually feel quite safe if any of those countries became a solid pillar of the eastern flank. (Even though Ukraine very much already is now.)

I imagine some of the quantities being purchased is that Poland can bypass Germany if a situation like this ever flares up again.

Instead of Germany being the gate keeper and slowly allowing other countries to donate kit to Ukraine, Poland has plenty of kit for itself - and can donate whatever surplus it has to someone else if need be.

(Or they just decided to order some actual combat spares, in the west seem hesitant to do.)
They are gearing up to stand alone. I question the need for all the MLRS seeing what 30 have done to the Russians in Ukraine but they will not be at the whim of Germany or France that is for sure
 
They are gearing up to stand alone. I question the need for all the MLRS seeing what 30 have done to the Russians in Ukraine but they will not be at the whim of Germany or France that is for sure

The Ukrainians have been quite vocal in stating that if they had had lots of MLRS (and a modern Air Defence System) they could have driven the Russians out by now and saved lots of lives and Billions of Dollars.

The intent is not to fight. The intent is to destroy an invading force as quickly as possible and get back to making money in peace.
 
The Ukrainians have been quite vocal in stating that if they had had lots of MLRS (and a modern Air Defence System) they could have driven the Russians out by now and saved lots of lives and Billions of Dollars.

The intent is not to fight. The intent is to destroy an invading force as quickly as possible and get back to making money in peace.
sure but 500 I think I would have bought a couple more F35's
 
sure but 500 I think I would have bought a couple more F35's

Those MLRS vehicles will be putting rounds down range long after all the F35 runways have been cratered. Add in a bunch of runway independent UAVs for spotting.
 
They are gearing up to stand alone. I question the need for all the MLRS seeing what 30 have done to the Russians in Ukraine but they will not be at the whim of Germany or France that is for sure
Poland has not been in a position to be able to truly dictate its own future for over 250yrs. They have tried to rely on Allies in the inter-war years (1920-39) but that didn't work out so well for them now did it?
They might actually have the belief that they could in a 'Turkey' regional over the next 10yrs if they are willing to invest enough in their military. Ignoring the Germans, they are the largest regional power outside of Russia/Ukraine and they are now lock step with the Ukrainians for the foreseeable future.
 
Poland has not been in a position to be able to truly dictate its own future for over 250yrs. They have tried to rely on Allies in the inter-war years (1920-39) but that didn't work out so well for them now did it?
They might actually have the belief that they could in a 'Turkey' regional over the next 10yrs if they are willing to invest enough in their military. Ignoring the Germans, they are the largest regional power outside of Russia/Ukraine and they are now lock step with the Ukrainians for the foreseeable future.

I'm pretty sure that the Poles and Ukrainians can equally rely on support from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. And the Turkish association looks to be interesting too, if they can sort out the Kurdish situation.
 
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