That's just an insane number.
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
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For comparison, the US who spends more than the next what, ten? states combined on their military is at 3.4% of gdp. We're not spending 5% of our gdp on the military without huge cuts. Is it worth your healthcare? Because that shit is done in this scenario.
So apparently Canada got something they were asking for for a long time, and NATO is willing to recognize our resource projects for "critical minerals" as part of our defense budget. The 5% is still a huge target, but it seems we do have some more options in how we actually reach it now, that don't involve just sending money to other countries to buy their military equipment. So hopefully these investments in critical minerals will actually be able to benefit our economy directly and limit the need for significant cuts elsewhere.
It wonβt benefit Canadians. It will benefit shareholders. Canada wont be mining critical minerals - private (not necessarily Canadian) companies will.
I'm sorry but cutting regulations and giving handouts to business for "development" has been the order of the day for the last 40 years and it's been bullshit. It's not any less bullshit because a new red tory face is selling it. It will end up the same old story: Huge promises of future income fall flat followed by "necessary" cuts.
It should be a crown corporation to count as part of NATO spending.
5% on defense spending is a lot. Really a lot. By the time it reaches 5% in 2035, that's going to be at least $3.5 trillion per year spent by NATO.
That's insane.
Also, how much of the infrastructure that gets built is going to be publicly owned and see revenues from their use flow back into public coffers? Are we going to drop tens of billions into infrastructure for rare earth mining only to see the mining companies reap all the benefits?
I am very, very skeptical of all this.
Tbh, my cynical read of this is that it looks a lot more like the West preparing for war under US guidance. BRICS+ has surpassed the G7 in GDP, the center of world economy is now moving to Asia, and China is about to leave the US in its dust economically. That will all happen without any need for war, just based on continued economic development under peaceful conditions. War would be the main thing that could disrupt that and military power is a main advantage the US still has over the competition. The US is already waging economic war on China, and Hegseth has been open about wanting Europe to spend more on their own defense so the US can square off against China. To me, it looks like the Western-led order with the old Western colonial powers dumping a tonne of money into military power so they can disrupt the transition of power to the emerging powers from the Global South and make a last ditch effort to hold on to the world order that's kept them on top for the last few hundred years.
On domestic production right? π€
So 5% seems like a lot... but we have definitely been under spending for awhile and could use some catch up, and 1.5% of that is earmarked for infrastructure, so maybe we'll at least get something useful to everyone and not just the military out of that extra 1.5%. Like a port doesn't necessarily have to be a military port, but the infrastructure could be used by the military if needed. Unless they really mean that has to be a military port, in which case, meh.
Long term though that seems a bit bonkers.
Edit: also were going to need to spend a lot of money on arctic stuff as global warming proceeds, at least in the mid-term. I bet a lot of it will go into that.
Edit: just another example, a high-speed rail connecting Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City could be part of that. It would allow the military to deploy around the region much faster. Spend some money on some special high speed military train cars as well to help make the point.
Exactly, and for now there's some reason to give Carney the benefit of the doubt that a good chunk would be spent domestically. I'm still skeptical but I gave some hope that's how it'll turn out.
Ya, like maybe let's build some ammo manufacturing capacity (as an example) instead of just buying it all out of country.
Shout out to spain, thr only one who don't folliw what trump want
Nobody is doing this because trump wants it, they're doing it because america is a threat.
Trump is the one who pushed for it in the first place! It was his idea. This is all driven by the US. Trump pushed NATO to a 5% target and Hegseth pushed Europe to reindustrialize their defense industry. There's no way NATO was going to a 5% target if not for Trump. It's entirely because he wants it.
I mean in a way itβs because of Trump, but not because he asked for it. One of the largest militaries in the world is now in the hands of a fucked up abomination made up of a demented old narcissist, the Heritage Foundation and Russia.
I honestly feel a lot better knowing Canada and Europe are putting more money into the military, especially given the annexation threats
It's very much all happening at Trump's behest. The idea that Trump is an actual threat to NATO is silly. Why would he push NATO countries to increase their defense spending target by 150% if he was planning on actually invading? He is very pleased with a more militarized NATO. He just used fear to motivate the public in NATO countries to open their wallets for more defense spending so the US can concentrate their resources on China. He scared and bullied NATO countries into doing what he wanted.
Why would he push NATO countries to increase their defense spending target by 150% if he was planning on actually invading?
Trump isn't planning to invade NATO (except maybe Greenland.) he's planning to leave NATO. NATO exists to protect the Western world, and its highly interconnected economies. it's a globalist project, and the US's role as de-facto leader of NATO gave us the ability to project tremendous soft military power, the same way the dollar lets us project soft economic power.
MAGA are isolationists. NATO protects "the West," but Trump doesn't care about the West, only America. so what if Putin carves up Europe? has Europe even said "thank you?" they're screwing us over, just look at the trade deficit! that's the logic.
The US isn't leaving NATO. The US just got everything it wanted from NATO, and they still hold massive sway over the alliance. This was just another threat to put fear into the public and the leaders of NATO states so they would pay more money. That's Trump's main focus. He wants other people to pay for what suits the US instead of the US doing so.
Do you really thing that most of the money will not br spend on american systems ? Why did they agree with exactly 5% why not 4% or 10% or sny other percentage?
I think most of it will be spent intentionally avoiding the US.
friendship ended with Raytheon. now Rhinemetall is my best friend.
Gearing up for war, here we go. Well, I'm too old to get drafted. Good luck, kids.
FML π«‘
A nation is only as strong as its people. A progressive government would define "defense" spending as anything protecting the health and prosperity of their people. So 5% of GDP for taking care of the population should not be that bad. If NATO disagrees they can go die mad.