Voyageur 69
Canada Finally Hits NATO's Target - Then Finds Out it Moved, and Air Canada's CEO Can't Speak French. Again.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
Please don’t forget to share, subscribe or send feedback.
Canada Finally Hits NATO's 2% Target - Then Finds Out the Target Moved
Canada spent more than $60 billion on defence last year, pushing military spending to 2.01% of GDP for the first time since the late 1980s. In 2014, when NATO set the 2% goal at a summit in Wales, Canada was putting up 1%. As recently as 2024, it was still at 1.47%.
The fillip came from a $9.3 billion injection into the defence budget last June - about $2 billion of which went toward pay raises for Canadian Armed Forces members, and the rest going to aircraft, armoured vehicles, ammunition, drones, and base housing. It should be mentioned that some creative accounting also provided a tailwind as Ottawa moved agencies like the Canadian Coast Guard under the Defence Department umbrella, letting them count toward the NATO number.
All 32 NATO allies now meet the 2% level. In 2018, only seven did. But the goalposts have already shifted. NATO's new target is 5% of GDP by 2035 - which for Canada would mean $150 billion a year, roughly two and a half times what it spends now. Former PM Trudeau once called the 2% goal a "crass mathematical calculation" and told allies Canada would never hit it. PM Mark Carney promised to get there by March 31. He made it with five days to spare (Voyageur 59).
At 5% the conversation’s about to get real for many Canadians paying taxes from abroad.
Read more: CBC News / BNN Bloomberg
Advertisement:
A photo from the old country:
Air Canada's CEO Can't Speak French. Again.
After the Air Canada Express crash at LaGuardia that killed both pilots on Sunday, CEO Michael Rousseau posted a four-minute condolence video. It was ~entirely in English. He provided fig leaves in the form of "bonjour" and "merci," but nothing else in French. The airline helpfully added subtitles.
Air Canada said Rousseau chose English to "convey such a sensitive message as effectively" as possible, and that his French wasn't strong enough to deliver it with clarity. The Official Languages Committee in Parliament voted unanimously to call him on the carpet in Ottawa to explain. By Wednesday, the Official Languages Commissioner had fielded 795 complaints. The PM was "very disappointed," and said that the message lacked compassion. Quebec Premier Legault called for Rousseau to resign. Bloc leader Blanchet said the CEO should "very seriously ask himself whether he has not clearly disqualified himself" - one of the pilots killed was a French-speaking Quebecer from Montreal (Voyageur 66).
This is the second time Rousseau has caught out over this. Four years ago, he took more than 2,600 complaints for giving a 26-minute speech with almost no French.
Read more: CBC News / The Globe and Mail