Politalk.ca

Carney says Canada will meet 2% NATO spending target by March

I hope it's true. Carney is a money guy, but I wonder where it's coming from.

Expanding the reach, security mandate, and abilities of the Canadian Coast Guard and integrating it into our NATO defence capabilities – to better secure our sovereignty and expand maritime surveillance.

That helped the bean counters and it didn't cost us a dime. It is now considered a part of the overall defence spending.

It should've been all along. Other countries do it.

For one of the worlds longest coastlines, not having the Coast Guard in the National Defence realm is just a no-brainer.

Not defending conservatives or liberals but, when there is only so much money around and the people want more and more for free, the allocations of money becomes difficult and considering Canada has not and is not at war, the money goes to the social programs. Only when Canadians were dying in Afghanistan did the military gain some publicity and deemed an appropriate department to get more money.
Also, to be somewhat fair, the governments did buy newer Hercules, get submarines, new SAR helicopters, new Navy helicopters, new fixed wing SAR aircraft, spend on development of new fighters, contract for new ships, numerous equipment for the Army and, huge increases in military pay.
Bottom line is that we are a small country with huge expenses and allocating to keep the majority of Canadians happy means some areas get less. As a wise man once said, "any government cannot give to someone that it does not first take form someone else".