Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the burden of NATO defense is increasingly shifting from the United States toward Canada and Europe as allies ramp up military spending. Carney highlighted Canada's plan to raise defense spending to 4% of GDP within two years and pointed to the country's largest-ever submarine procurement as evidence of its growing commitment. His remarks underscore Canada's expanding role in NATO amid evolving security challenges and closer defense cooperation with European partners.
#MarkCarney #Canada #NATO #Defense #Europe #UnitedStates #Military #DefenseSpending #Submarines #Geopolitics #WorldNews #BreakingNews #Security #NATOSummit #InternationalRelations
~PR.498~ED.420~HT.178~GR.508~VG.HM~
#MarkCarney #Canada #NATO #Defense #Europe #UnitedStates #Military #DefenseSpending #Submarines #Geopolitics #WorldNews #BreakingNews #Security #NATOSummit #InternationalRelations
~PR.498~ED.420~HT.178~GR.508~VG.HM~
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Right and early. We've got the early slot this morning.
00:03Well, first, actually, first off, before we kind of record, let me thank you all for coming.
00:09I know it's an imposition, but it's important.
00:12The overall backdrop, let me just say a couple words, overall backdrop, then we'll take questions.
00:17And I just said something to the effect just as I was walking in.
00:21You know, big picture, the threats are changing rapidly.
00:26The threats that face Canada, the threats that face the alliance.
00:29Evolution of the technical threats, if I can put it that way, from hypersonic missiles to autonomous warfare, hybrid warfare.
00:37The adversaries, Russia as a direct adversary.
00:41So that evolution is there.
00:43There's a process of shifting burdens.
00:45We've known about that, shifting burdens towards within the alliance, away from the United States.
00:51The United States still in the alliance without question, but shifting towards Europe and Canada.
00:57And those burdens being picked up.
01:00And the capacities are being built.
01:02And you've seen recent announcements.
01:04There's more announcements today from Canada in terms of our procurement.
01:08Building capacity across maritime capacity with the sub-announcement, light vehicles, munitions.
01:17The aircraft announcement, which we've now seen endorsed by NATO with the global eye.
01:23And that puts us in a position, last point, and then we'll go to questions.
01:28The way we see things is a NATO that is moving towards burden shifting, more regional integration within a NATO
01:40umbrella.
01:41And so, par rapport au Canada, et c'est l'Arctique, c'est la responsabilité de l'Amérique du Nord.
01:49Et puis, on a fait une crescent de l'Arctique juste du maire du Baltic.
01:56OK.
01:57Concernant M. Carney, à la Banque de la Défense, s'il peut y avoir des discussions avec la Grande-Bretagne,
02:03est-ce qu'il pourrait y avoir une sorte de fusion avec l'initiative du Baltic là-dessus?
02:08J'ai eu une discussion hier soir avec M. le Premier ministre Starmer.
02:13Il y a des discussions tout le temps.
02:15J'ai eu une discussion il y a quelques semaines avec M. Brown, l'envoi spécial pour le Royaume-Uni.
02:23Des initiatives, selon nous, elles sont complémentaires.
02:27Parce qu'il y a une banque, une banque qui donne des prêts, des investissements.
02:31C'est l'initiative du Canada et huit autres pays à ce moment-ci.
02:37Et ce n'est plus une initiative d'approvisionnement du Royaume-Uni.
02:44Mais on peut voir les concordances entre les deux.
02:49Parce que si on a de l'approvisionnement prévisible, c'est plus facile de financer.
02:59Financer des petites et moyennes entreprises, par exemple.
03:02Alors, il y a des discussions.
03:03Je suis sûr que les discussions vont intensifier sur cela.
03:08Parce que c'est une alliance, au fond.
03:10Je suis sûr que les deux initiatives.
03:18Le M.D.M., l'initiative du UK, est plutôt une initiative de procurement, une soveraine procurement.
03:29Il y a une complémentaire entre la banque et la banque.
03:33C'est ce que le DSRB est.
03:35Si vous avez plus de procurer, c'est plus facile de financer contre ça.
03:39Je disais que je parlais avec le Premier Starmer de ce matin.
03:43Il y a des discussions avec nos officiers.
03:45Je suis sûr que les gens vont prendre.
03:47C'est une alliance, après tout.
03:48Et nous sommes tous looking pour les meilleures pour les meilleures pour les meilleures.
03:51C'est ce que les capacités buildupes.
03:53Le Secretary General said, coming into this meeting,
03:56that you would like to see from alliance members
03:59a clear and credible plan towards 5%.
04:04So, did we present a comprehensive plan to NATO?
04:07At the same time, the CDPOW Institute has also said
04:10that Canada needs to be fiscally transparent
04:15about how it's spending defense dollars.
04:19And so, publicly, can you say what our plan is for 5%?
04:23Well, the first thing is, and this is what the public needs to know,
04:27is that the commitment at NATO is 5% 2035.
04:31So, it's nine years from now, first point.
04:33Second point, in a world where threats are evolving rapidly
04:38and burdens are shifting, what is also was agreed at the Hague Summit
04:43is that those objectives, those percentages, will be reviewed in 2030.
04:49Okay, so those two things are part of the overall environment.
04:53That's sensible, and Canadians expect us to be sensible.
04:56We have a need to increase our defense spending,
05:00increase our resilience spending to protect Canadians,
05:03first and foremost, and to support our allies.
05:06And we have some catch-up to do, without question.
05:08I came into government.
05:09We were spending 1.4% of GDP on defense, direct defense expenditure.
05:15We got that to 2% in the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
05:20That's going to scale up to 2.5% over the fiscal framework,
05:23over the course of the next four years.
05:26And in addition, we're spending 1.5% of GDP around resilience.
05:30So, by the NATO definition, before the end of this decade,
05:34we are spending 4%.
05:36I'll remind the 5% is out there.
05:39What's important, what people care about, is, I mean, yes,
05:43the bond market cares about and being responsible with taxpayer dollars.
05:48That's fundamental.
05:49But what matters is those capacities.
05:51What are we actually spending the money on?
05:54The first thing we spent money on was paying the women and men
05:57in the Canadian Armed Forces properly,
05:59payments that match the weight of their responsibilities.
06:03In terms of fiscal transparency, I'm conscious of other questions,
06:06and we can go into this in more detail.
06:08I'm perfectly happy to.
06:12We have provision, for example, for the submarines,
06:15already provision for that within that fiscal track.
06:18So, the decision that was announced yesterday,
06:20contract still to be negotiated,
06:22but the decision that was out two days ago, I apologize,
06:25that will not have an impact on the budget
06:28because the money has already been set aside for that.
06:32But we will lay out in the budget an update with the decisions we're taking,
06:38where the fiscal track is, where the defense spending is,
06:41how we're spending the 1.5% on defense-related expenditures,
06:46resilience expenditures, and that's the right time to do it.
06:48On burden shifting, sir.
06:50Yesterday, Secretary-General Rutte announced big new capabilities for NATO,
06:54airlift, refueling, area surveillance.
07:00But when President Trump arrived,
07:03all he talked about was the refusal of the Allies to participate in the attack on Iran.
07:08Is there a mismatch between alliance leaders who want to talk about what NATO can do
07:13and a president who's fixated on what NATO won't do?
07:19The alliance is a defensive alliance.
07:22It's not an offensive alliance.
07:24And in a world of evolving threats,
07:27it's important that we, as your question suggests,
07:31that we put ourselves in a position where we can defend our citizens.
07:35And that defense, that robust defense,
07:38has to be highly, highly credible to deter attacks
07:41and prevent the type of suffering we're seeing in Ukraine.
07:46Is there more to do in order to be in that position?
07:52Without question.
07:53And what Canada looks to in these meetings
07:56and all related meetings and interactions
07:59is to identify where those gaps are
08:02and help to close them
08:04and to do so in a transparent way.
08:06And that's a process.
08:08That's an iterative process.
08:10Yes, the president, the president of the United States,
08:13had a desire for more offensive support
08:17with respect to the Iran conflict.
08:20And it wasn't a direct ask of Canada.
08:24We didn't have the capabilities.
08:26We're not relevant from a base perspective in that theater.
08:30And that's between him and specific NATO allies.
08:33On the submarines,
08:35you've said that the economic benefits
08:38were a major part of the decision-making process.
08:41What was it that clinched it for the winning preferred bidder?
08:45Yeah.
08:46And is there a consolation prize for the prospective loser?
08:50They want to sell all kinds of things,
08:51land vehicles, et cetera.
08:52Well, the first thing is that the process
08:55was run by the Defense Investment Agency.
08:57So there's a series of criteria that are there.
09:02Obviously, cost is a component of it.
09:04Both bidders, as you know, I think,
09:07had met the operational thresholds
09:09of the Royal Canadian Navy.
09:10So both were seaworthy from their perspective
09:13or would perform the job.
09:16One of the, you know,
09:16there's a set of related issues, though,
09:18such as sustainment.
09:20So how do we make sure
09:21that these subs are available for decades?
09:23Where does that sustainment take place?
09:26How is that expertise transferred
09:29from the bidders to Canadians
09:32and Canadian businesses
09:35so that Canada is doing the sustainment?
09:37There's associated industrial and technical benefits
09:40that came with both of the bids,
09:43which were evaluated.
09:45So it was a series of criteria
09:47and matched or assessed on a pairs basis.
09:51You know, if you were allocating a score of 10,
09:54who do you give it, you know,
09:57the 7-2 and the 3-2?
09:58That's effectively the process that the DIA takes.
10:02To the second part of your question,
10:07we have a deep strategic relationship
10:11with the Republic of Korea.
10:12I had a very productive conversation
10:16with President Lee on the weekend
10:19to inform him of the decision.
10:22Obviously, he was disappointed,
10:24but the conversation immediately pivoted
10:27at his initiative
10:29to a series of issues around AI
10:32and technology risks
10:34and how we can continue
10:35and deepen our cooperation there.
10:36We picked up on that conversation.
10:38We had a long bilateral here yesterday.
10:41That's not a consolation prize.
10:43That is allies working together
10:46strategically on important issues.
10:48There's just a host of other issues
10:51where we're going to work with Korea
10:52and build out and continue to do so.
10:54Is Tom Pitfield's appointment to the Senate
10:56a reward for helping you win the election?
10:58Absolutely not.
10:59Tom Pitfield is an entrepreneur.
11:02He's a philanthropist.
11:03He's got deep technological knowledge,
11:07knowledge about technology,
11:09and particularly with respect to the last aspect,
11:13we look at the Senate as a whole
11:15and what the competencies are,
11:17and obviously familiarity with government,
11:19familiar with legislative processes,
11:21other things are helpful,
11:22but we want some core competencies in there as well.
11:26Where the Senate is more deficient
11:29and there's people who are willing to serve,
11:30I'm very pleased that they are.
11:32Could you explain the mechanism for them?
11:34You call Iran irresponsible,
11:35just in a moment.
11:36It is irresponsible.
11:37They were...
11:38Sorry, I'll let you finish your question.
11:40Yeah.
11:40What do you make of the U.S. strikes,
11:42yesterday,
11:42and do you think that the peace deal is there?
11:44Well...
11:45Well...
11:45You can reply in French.
11:46In French, okay.
11:49Okay.
11:50It's a situation with...
11:52We'll start in French.
11:53It's a situation with a ceasefire.
11:55Okay?
11:56There's a ceasefire.
11:57It's not perfect, but it exists.
11:58And the ceasefire has been reinforced by the President of the United States
12:05during the funeral of the former President of Iran for six days.
12:13And during this period, this period of death, where Iran is in death, Iran has attacked Qatar
12:24and the Saudi Arabia several times.
12:27Well, that's irresponsible.
12:30It's not correct at all, but that's irresponsible.
12:33Well, there was a response from the United States, and it's not funny, but it's correct.
12:41Well, yes, the situation is fragile.
12:58In English, this is a situation where we had a ceasefire as part of the peace deal that
13:08had been reinforced by the U.S. President during the six-day period of mourning for the
13:14the late Ayatollah Khamenei, and during that period, Iran attacked multiple times.
13:23They would call targets.
13:24We would call infrastructure assets in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and threatened shipping again.
13:33That's irresponsible.
13:34It's not right.
13:36And the United States has responded as appropriate to look to stop this behavior and put in place
13:47at least conditions to reestablish the ceasefire.
13:50So, as I said in French, it's evidently a fragile situation.
13:55Did you talk to Trump on Sunday initially?
13:57I did, yes.
13:58You said he was in a good mood.
13:59He didn't sound like he was in a good mood.
14:01Is this that?
14:01He was in a good mood at dinner last night as well.
14:03Okay.
14:03So, publicly he comes and he says, right, come on, I'm going to pull out.
14:10Is this performative from your perspective?
14:11I'm not asking you to criticize him.
14:12But the public sees two very different things, and then you see he's in a good mood and all's fine
14:17with the spending.
14:19Well, you added that.
14:20You added that.
14:21You did.
14:22Sorry, we should call you on that.
14:23Look, I think the President, as did President Obama, which I just said to someone else,
14:33is looking for a shift of the burden within NATO.
14:36That's appropriate.
14:37That is happening.
14:39That's gaining momentum.
14:40That's part of the point I made to President Trump when we spoke a few days ago,
14:45is that it's not just he's winning the argument, he's won the argument.
14:50Countries recognize that they need to take more responsibility, see the direct threats.
14:56Now, the question for NATO and part of what we will discuss and part of the point I will make
15:01in the room
15:02with my three and a half minutes of time, which is about a quarter of the length of my normal
15:08answer, I know,
15:08so I apologize, is that those shifting burdens are going to be, in our view, most effectively done.
15:23Obviously, with greater capacity, we have to spend more, we have to build these capacities,
15:26that's what we're doing, but in ways that recognize the regions in which we operate.
15:32So for Canada, North America, obviously, up until now, NATO has said, well, North American security, that's your problem.
15:40Well, North American security, and particularly Arctic security, and remind everybody that, you know,
15:46we've got 15% of the world's coastline, Arctic security is not a flank, it's a front, with the shift
15:54in the threats,
15:57and Russia is a direct adversary.
16:00So spending there and coordinating, not just Canada, but Canada, the Nordics, Canada, Germany, Canada, France,
16:07Canada, the Baltics, that crescent is vital for NATO.
16:12So that, that's where the discussion, in our judgment, needs to go, and that is where the planning is going,
16:20in our view.
16:20We'll do a last question.
16:21Just for the non-bankers among us, would you explain?
16:24Things like that.
16:25Could you explain how the bank would make purchases, big-ticket items like submarines in the future,
16:30cheaper for the Canadian taxpayer, and is it able to do that as currently constituted,
16:34or does it need to grow further and get new members?
16:37Well, I think, so first thing is, you look at the membership of the bank.
16:42Let me give a specific example, which I think answers both parts of your question.
16:48And let's look at Ukraine, which is one of the countries that would be a founding member of the bank.
16:55I think everybody knows, and it's increasingly understood with a greater degree of, you know, specificity, granularity,
17:02is that in tragic circumstances, this war since 2014, Ukraine has made tremendous advances in drones and autonomous warfare
17:13in the integration of those capabilities.
17:16That is relevant for everybody.
17:19They have expertise, they have production capabilities, and we are in the process, Canada included,
17:25of partnering with Ukrainian firms, Canadian firms and Ukrainian firms, partnering and building up that capacity.
17:32Now, that in and of itself creates a supply chain.
17:36I've got a firm in Ukraine, maybe several firms in Ukraine, a firm in Canada, maybe somebody in the Nordics
17:42as well.
17:42And the ability to finance across that supply chain cost-effectively is tremendously valued.
17:49It lowers the cost of it for everybody.
17:53Us partnering with Ukraine not just brings technology, but it's cheaper, even in a war theater,
18:00to produce many things in Ukraine because of just volumes and other factors.
18:04That also saves money for Canadian taxpayers.
18:07And what it does as well, and maybe I should end on this since we're at the NATO summit,
18:12it also pulls, you know, tightens the alliance.
18:16It's another mechanism that builds the alliance together.
18:19And I think, if I can just make one adjacent point, and this goes to taxpayers,
18:26what we don't want to do as we all build up is to all build up in silos.
18:32That's very, very expensive.
18:35It's not a true alliance.
18:36It can be human nature to do that, say, okay, we need this capability.
18:41And so what Canada's been focused on is, and you've heard us say this many, many times,
18:46working with like-minded partners so that, you know, we exploit those complementarities,
18:52and I mean exploit in a positive sense.
18:54And that's part of what we're seeing.
18:56We're seeing it with the Global Eye aircraft.
19:00We're seeing it in how we will build out the submarines with the TKMS bid.
19:05Thank you, everyone.
19:07I talked about this.
19:09I talked about this.
19:14Subscribe to One India and never miss an update.
19:19Download the One India app now.
Comments