Canada 'already past due' on NATO defence spending target: U.S. House intelligence committee chair Mike Turner

The chair of the United States House intelligence committee says Canada needs to accelerate its defence spending targets, especially with its military in 'desperate' need of investment.

The chair of the United States House intelligence committee says Canada needs to accelerate its defence spending targets, especially with its military in "desperate" need of investment.

"You're already past due," Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner told CTV's Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an exclusive Canadian broadcast interview airing Sunday.

NATO members agreed to the two per cent of GDP target at the Wales Summit a decade ago and pledged to meet that goal by this year. According to NATO figures, 23 of 32 member countries are on track to meet the pledge this year, while Canada has no plan to do so until 2032.

"The problem is that it's not just this two per cent number that was agreed to in Wales, it really is just the functioning capabilities of the overall military," Turner added. "I think even if you look at other metrics, the Canadian military needs desperate investment right now. It's military equipment, it's personnel, it's training."

Turner is in Montreal for a meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and told Kapelos the defence spending target — and Canada's failure to meet it — will be "one of the biggest discussions" at the gathering.

"It was an agreement. It wasn't a policy debate," Turner said. "It wasn't something for them to go back to and decide later whether or not they would do it."

In an opinion piece for Newsweek last month, Turner wrote that "Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, not (Donald) Trump, is a threat to the stability and success of NATO," despite media reports that some members of the military alliance are worried about what the former president's re-election could mean for the organization.