The Canadian defense budget is quite small (30bn). 4bn is a big number compared to that but in general this is quite small compared to most developed countries. I believe Canada has been quiet thanks to their neighbors protecting them but with that changing I’m wondering whether there will be a shift in defense spending.
This will also create new jobs and a market which the economy probably needs.
There are only 15 countries worldwide with a higher defence budget than Canada so the budget is hardly tiny, it just doesn’t meet the arbitrary and obscene targets of 2/5% GDP. In actuality, Canada spends more than twice as much per capita than the world average.
The only realistic threat to Canada is the new one from Donald Trump, but it would take closer to 30% GDP to protect from that one.
> There are only 15 countries worldwide with a higher defence budget than Canada so the budget is hardly tiny...
Canada is pretty big: it's the second-largest country by land-area. Surely there must be certain defense expenditures that need to scale with that?
> In actuality, Canada spends more than twice as much per capita than the world average.
That seems like a twisted measure, due to 1) the land-area issue I mentioned above, and 2) there are a lot of countries in the world that are small and poor, and thus cannot afford a military that can actually defend themselves.
> The only realistic threat to Canada is the new one from Donald Trump...
huxley|14 days ago
The only realistic threat to Canada is the new one from Donald Trump, but it would take closer to 30% GDP to protect from that one.
palmotea|13 days ago
Canada is pretty big: it's the second-largest country by land-area. Surely there must be certain defense expenditures that need to scale with that?
> In actuality, Canada spends more than twice as much per capita than the world average.
That seems like a twisted measure, due to 1) the land-area issue I mentioned above, and 2) there are a lot of countries in the world that are small and poor, and thus cannot afford a military that can actually defend themselves.
> The only realistic threat to Canada is the new one from Donald Trump...
That's actually not a realistic threat, either.
k12sosse|13 days ago