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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.
 
If only the RCN would get onboard with the CDS direction; I genuinely worry that we are driving are ships/crews so hard that we will break the fleet doing low impact sailing. Not having enough time to get the ships up to basic SOLAS standards by having time for things like maintenance and adequate crew sizes means they won't be up to snuff if they need to go to any kind of combat standard.
I don't think it's just the RCN that is dragging its heels on that.

Or so I hear.
 
I don't think it's just the RCN that is dragging its heels on that.

Or so I hear.
I think across elements is the same tune as when I try to get my kids to downsize their stuffed animals:
"Oh no... Mr. Fuzzykins is essential...."

Except

"Oh no... Unified Resolve is essential...."
 
I think across elements is the same tune as when I try to get my kids to downsize their stuffed animals:
"Oh no... Mr. Fuzzykins is essential...."

Except

"Oh no... Unified Resolve the Change of Command Parade for XYZ unit is essential...."
At least an exercise, at least theoretically, is useful since that's how you train with others and assess the force.

In the RCN and RCAF, multinational exercises are usually the only times we work with our partner allies with any regularity.
 
At least an exercise, at least theoretically, is useful since that's how you train with others and assess the force.

In the RCN and RCAF, multinational exercises are usually the only times we work with our partner allies with any regularity.

As opposed to exercises between the CAF Reg F and A Res which happen... well.... never ;)
 
I don't think it's just the RCN that is dragging its heels on that.

Or so I hear.
To be fair, when the CDS direction came out, two ships were already deployed. Should they have just ceased operations and come home?

There is also the small matter that GAC is intimately involved. Forces were committed to certain operations, by the Government of Canada, not CRCN or the CDS.
 
To be fair, when the CDS direction came out, two ships were already deployed. Should they have just ceased operations and come home?

There is also the small matter that GAC is intimately involved. Forces were committed to certain operations, by the Government of Canada, not CRCN or the CDS.
I'd put operations in the "essential" category.
 
To be fair, when the CDS direction came out, two ships were already deployed. Should they have just ceased operations and come home?

There is also the small matter that GAC is intimately involved. Forces were committed to certain operations, by the Government of Canada, not CRCN or the CDS.
Should the RCN still be operating the MCDVs, which were supposed to get paid off to free up people for the AOPs? Has the RCN been beating on the fleet like rentals for over a decade and never scheduling long enough work periods to get the required maintenance done?

The RCN has been ignoring this my entire career and it's just in a death spiral at this point. Martechs are at 50-60% PMLs on the coasts, that's insane, and it's continuing to get worse as the RCN keeps the pedal down on the OPSCHED.

Even before the CDS order they should have been begging to slow things down. Instead they are still planning on RAMPING UP TRAINING to a level higher than we've ever acheived, despite numerous instructor billets being empty, major maintenance needed to the schools and a general lack of throughput capacity..

Institutionally completely out of touch. So either CRCN and staff is getting their arses shined on or they are just ignoring reality, and not sure which is worse.
 
Institutionally completely out of touch. So either CRCN and staff is getting their arses shined on or they are just ignoring reality, and not sure which is worse.
My uninformed guess is that the RCN is pushing the fleet to the breaking point to try and maintain relevance within the NDHQ/SJS/CJOC circles. Those circles will set funding priorities far fast than having an L1 screaming into the void and being drowned out by the larger and costlier elements (CA and RCAF, respectively).

Doesn't make sense on the personnel side, but I can see that as a perceived Ace in the Hole when it comes to the new Defence White Paper/budget allocation.
 
That message will, I suspect, be delivered by this lady, and she may not even bother coming to Ottawa to deliver it.

Her "mandate" is: "to spur good-paying jobs, empower entrepreneurs to innovate and grow, and help American workers and businesses compete." Guess whose actions threaten the competitive status of American workers and businesses?
View attachment 74825
I have no idea who that is 🤦‍♂️
 
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