'2032 is not good enough': Kelly Craft says Canada has to spend faster on defence if Trump wins

The former U.S. ambassador to Canada, who served under former U.S. president Donald Trump, says Canada needs to spend more on defence, and do so faster than the federal government’s currently plans to.

"Canada, you can do better. I know you can do better," Kelly Craft told CTV's Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in a panel interview alongside former Canadian ambassador to the U.S. David MacNaughton.

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Following years of pressure from allies, the Canadian government committed in July to reaching the NATO alliance's target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence by 2032. The original deadline, agreed upon by members in 2014 as part of the Wales Summit, was to reach the two-per-cent goal by this year.

According to NATO figures, 23 of 32 member countries are on track to meet the pledge this year. And until last summer, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to hit the target by 2032, Canada was the only NATO country without a plan to do so.

Craft — who served as the American envoy to Canada from 2017 to 2019 under Trump — said defence spending, specifically as part of an alliance like NATO, is important for collective deterrence and averting adversarial countries, such as Russia and China.

For Canada, she said, that's especially relevant when it comes to the Arctic.

Kelly Craft, former United States ambassador to the United Nations, delivers a speech at the Taipei Security Dialogue in Taipei, Taiwan, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

"I believe that Canada needs to wake up and understand that once you work from within, and you strengthen, you will have no better friend than the United States under a Trump presidency, because we have a proven record," she also said.

According to a recent report from the parliamentary budget officer (PBO), the federal government will have to double its current defence spending if it wants to meet the goal as promised by 2032. That kind of increase would require a "fundamental" political shift, Canadian Global Affairs Institute president David Perry told CTV News this week.

MacNaughton has also been a longtime advocate for Canada to be more active on continental defence.

"Talking about spending targets and things like that, I understand that that's kind of almost table stakes," he told Kapelos and Craft. "But what I'd like to see is real commitment to being a reliable defence and security partner by acting, not by 2032 or 2035 or whatever it is, but by actually taking action."

Craft — who also served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump — agreed, adding of Canada's timeline, "2032 is not good enough."

When asked by Kapelos about Trump's previous comments related to the military alliance, specifically threatening on multiple occasions to pull the U.S. out of it, and why Canada should take guidance from someone whose commitment to NATO is perilous, Craft insisted the former commander-in-chief and current Republican candidate "has committed to NATO."

"Donald Trump, when he says he expects people to pay their fair share, they will," Craft said. "He's a negotiator."

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"He understands the importance," she added. "He's not going to walk in the room and show you his cards. He's not going to allow the American people to carry the burden for the NATO countries."

Craft and MacNaughton, during the panel, also discussed trade, namely the trilateral agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico known as the USMCA. The deal is up for review in 2026, and both Trump and U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris have signalled a readiness to fully reopen it should they take office.

With files from CTV News' Brennan MacDonald and Judy Trinh