NATO increases pressure on Canada to devote public resources to war rather than pressing security and social needs. In July the Liberals committed to reaching NATO’s target of spending two per cent of GDP on the military by 2032. Recently the Parliamentary Budget Officer calculated Canada would need to spend $41 billion more per year on warfare to reach NATO’s target. Already, Canadian military spending has doubled from $20 billion to $41 billion over the past decade partly in a bid to reach the NATO target. And now Ottawa plans to double it again to $82 billion. This starves society of resources to overcome far more pressing social needs like building hundreds of thousands of units of public housing.
Given current events, defense IS a social need. The US can no longer be trusted to defend the western world, given how willing they are to elect idiots who will sell out to the highest bidder. Anybody who shares a border with Russia needs to get their military in tip top condition.