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The Canada-U.S. Defence Relationship: What Next?

When President Barack Obama came to Ottawa as part of the “bromance” with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he said that the world needed “more Canada,” but he also pointed out that Canada should contribute its fair share on defence. This was a significant call to action from Canada’s most important ally and defence partner. Canadians resent being told that they are a free-rider on defence spending. Comparisons on defence spending often ignore qualitative differences or things like purchasing parities and currencies distortions. Yet, although our forces are second to none when engaged in an expeditionary operation, our paltry .95 percent of GDP spending on defence barely meets the Nils Orvik criteria of “defence against help” – that is  preventing the U.S. from taking over our defence completely.

Still, Canada’s defence relations with the U.S. are solidly grounded in joint training exercises, personnel exchanges, strategic policy discussions, and operational cooperation. The consultative architecture, going back to the 1940’s, is rock solid and translates into a combined defence plan within a tri-command framework. Canada is also a key partner in U.S. efforts to prevent and reduce illicit trafficking through detection, monitoring, and tracking drug traffickers. Maritime interoperability between Canadian, U.S., and Mexican forces in response to regional maritime threats has gained from the creation of North American Maritime Security Initiative.

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