Canada makes submarine procurement announcement after days of defence-spending criticism from NATO allies

The Canadian government is rushing to make a string of defence-related announcements at this week’s NATO summit in Washington, in a bid to tamp down criticism that Ottawa is failing to meet the alliance’s target for military spending.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his delegation are promising $500-million more in military aid for Ukraine, along with Canadian help training Ukrainian fighter pilots on F-16 aircraft. The federal government has also vowed to start looking into buying up to 12 new submarines capable of operating under ice in the Arctic, according to a Wednesday news release.

Canada is among a minority of NATO member countries that have yet to meet the alliance target, which calls for each member to spend 2 per cent of its annual economic output on defence.

In a background briefing at the summit, one Canadian official said the government would outline more military spending plans on Thursday. The Globe and Mail agreed not to identify the official as a condition of taking part in the briefing.

Still absent from Canada’s submarine plans are a price tag, timeline and actual contracts to buy them. The announcement said only that Canada would issue a request for information from manufacturers later this year – a step before issuing a formal request for proposals. The final number of submarines to be purchased was not specified.

David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute think tank, said Canada’s announcement Wednesday represents a relatively minor step that formalizes a process already under way. He said the Royal Canadian Navy has been travelling abroad to visit potential suppliers for some time, in order to collect information for a new submarine procurement program.

Mr. Perry estimated the full cost of acquiring up to 12 submarines would be up to $120-billion, and that it would take up to 15 years for the first of the new submarines to be operational.

It was not immediately clear whether any of this would ease the criticism Canada is facing from its NATO allies for failing to meet the 2-per-cent target. In Washington this week, American officials have spoken out against the Canadian government for not doing more. And NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reinforced the importance of the spending target during remarks at the summit’s opening ceremony on Tuesday. “Two per cent is not the ceiling,” he said. “Two per cent is now the floor for our defence spending.”

Out of 32 NATO members, 23 have met the decade-old two-per-cent promise. In a defence policy update earlier this year, Canada unveiled a plan that would result in the country reaching only 1.76 per cent by 2030. The latest NATO survey of alliance members’ defence expenditures estimated that Canada would spend 1.37 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence this year.

In Wednesday’s news release, the Department of Defence said it is currently meeting with manufacturers to learn more about who might ultimately be able to build the submarines.

In training Ukrainian pilots, the Canadian official said at the briefing, Canada will take over part of a program currently run by France. Under the initiative, Ukrainian pilots would use Canadian-made simulators and receive classroom training. The program would not involve in-flight training, which is provided by Romania, because Canada does not have F-16s.

The $500-million for Ukraine is in addition to $4-billion Canada has previously spent on military help since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in 2022. By comparison, the U.S. has sent US$175-billion in aid – more than 50 times Canada’s contribution – even though its economy is only about 10 times Canada’s size.

Mr. Perry, who is at the NATO summit in Washington, said Canada is clearly under pressure to demonstrate to its NATO partners that it is on track to hike its defence spending to the alliance target. “This is an announcement being made to have something to say at a NATO summit,” he said.

He said the two-per-cent target is dominating the meeting. “In literally every discussion, and dozens and dozens of times, the NATO investment pledge has come up over and over and over again, he said.

Canada has faced criticism from several directions as the summit has continued this week. After a meeting with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate, jabbed at Mr. Trudeau in a social media post. “It’s time for our northern ally to invest seriously in the hard power required to help preserve prosperity and security,” he wrote.

Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, railed against Canada for “riding on America’s coattails.”

“They have the safety and security of being on our border and not having to worry about that. I think that’s shameful,” he said at a security forum happening alongside the summit. “You need to do your part.”

Mr. Johnson, an ally of former U.S. president Donald Trump, did not meet with Mr. Trudeau despite being invited to. Mr. Johnson took criticism earlier this year for allowing a congressional vote on aid to Ukraine, which is increasingly opposed by some members of his party.

Earlier in the week, Michael Carpenter, a White House national-security official, warned that countries failing to pay their share should expect other allies to hold their “feet to the fire” at the summit.

He said the U.S. would “hope to see a credible plan at some point” from Canada on getting there.