Canada 'falling so consistently short' on defence spending has hurt standing on world stage, but improving: U.S. ambassador

U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen says while Canada's defence spending is going in the right direction, the federal government's persistent failure to meet NATO targets has been damaging to the country's reputation on the world stage.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen says while Canada's defence spending is going in the right direction, the federal government's persistent failure to meet NATO targets has been damaging to the country's reputation on the world stage.

Canada is one of the few countries that has yet to meet the alliance's agreed-upon goal to spend two per cent of GDP on defence.

And the re-election of Donald Trump in the United States has added a new sense of urgency, with many Canadian and American politicians commenting in recent months that the country's lagging contributions on defence will likely become a priority, once again, for the incoming president.

In an interview for CTV's Question Period airing Sunday, Cohen underscored a point he's made previously, that he doesn't believe the percentage of GDP spending should be the only metric by which a country's contribution to the alliance is measured. But he conceded that Canada's failure to meet the target, despite having signed on to it more than a decade ago, is having an impact.

"There is no doubt that what you hear from American politicians, from other NATO allies about Canada falling so consistently short against an important metric, without the nuance of everything that follows, that it has hurt Canada's standing in the world from a defence-related perspective," Cohen told host Vassy Kapelos.

The ambassador — who is set to be replaced with Trump's pick, former Michigan congressman Pete Hoekstra, pending his confirmation by the U.S. Senate in January — added that alliance members see Canada has been "stepping up," pointing to recent spending announcements from the federal government.

"And I think they view Canada as being responsive to these concerns, and I think that will begin to bring Canada's standing in the world back, and to do it pretty quickly," he said.