This article was published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Washington office, the Center for North American Prosperity and Security (CNAPS.org). It originally appeared in the Washington Times.
By Anthony De Luca-Baratta and Jamie Tronnes, March 12, 2025
In the wake of a seemingly endless cycle of tariff threats, Canadian leaders are seeking to address President Trump’s grievances and are hoping to avoid a prolonged trade war. Last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed to be engaged in lengthy discussions with Ottawa on how Canada could “do better” by the United States.
Chief among Mr. Trump’s grievances against our northern neighbor is the Canadian military’s disrepair. To the president’s ire, Canada has routinely failed to meet its NATO obligation to spend at least 2% of its gross domestic product on defense. Worse still, from a North American perspective, the Canadian Armed Forces cannot meet their North American Air Defense Command obligations for the joint defense of North American airspace with the United States.
The Canadian Armed Forces’ lack of readiness in the air was most recently and embarrassingly demonstrated in February 2023 when an unidentified object suspected of being a Chinese spy balloon was spotted flying over the Yukon. The Royal Canadian Air Force attempted to scramble its aging CF-18 fighter jets stationed at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake, northeast of Edmonton. The aging CF-18s were unable to take off because of freezing rain. An American F-22 ultimately shot down the unidentified object.
The story is much the same at sea and on land. Much of the Canadian navy’s and army’s equipment is aging and needs maintenance, but they lack the funding or personnel to do the necessary work.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Canada’s military has a proud tradition of punching above its weight, and under the right leadership, it can do so again.
During World War I, the Canadian Corps, fighting under the British army, earned a reputation as an elite fighting force. All told, 430,000 Canadians, out of a population of less than 8 million, fought for king and country during the Great War. 330,000 of them were volunteers. By the war’s end, almost a quarter of the British Royal Flying Corps pilots were Canadian. Of these brave men, 63,000 would never return home.
The Canadian Corps won its most famous victory during the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917, seizing a strategically vital and seemingly impregnable position on the Western Front from the stubbornly entrenched Germans. It would go on to win every battle it fought until the war’s end, including during the Hundred Days Offensive that ultimately forced the Germans to sign an armistice with the Allies in November 1918. During the campaign, the battle-hardened Canadians often served as the tip of the allied spear, playing a key role in dislodging the German lines.
A few decades later, Canadians contributed more than 1 million personnel out of a population of 11 million to the effort to defeat Adolf Hitler. Fourteen thousand of the 150,000 soldiers who landed in Normandy on D-Day to liberate Europe were Canadian. The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 124 vessels to the operation, and the Royal Canadian Air Force contributed 39 aircraft squadrons. When the day was over, 1,096 Canadians had been killed or wounded, one-tenth of all casualties.
When Kim Il-sung’s North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, Canada contributed 27,000 troops to the U.S.-led United Nations effort to repel the communists. More than 500 Canadian soldiers lost their lives, making the Korean War the third-bloodiest overseas conflict in Canadian history after the two world wars.
When the U.S. was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, Canadians stepped up once again by sending 40,000 men and women to its aid in Afghanistan and losing 165 of them.
The proud Canadian martial spirit lies dormant, but it can be revived. The governing Liberal Party has come around to this view, though it is likely to find itself out of government this spring. Canada’s next elected prime minister will likely be Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who favors increased military spending and wants to bring warrior culture back to the forces. Canadians are on board, with 75% saying they want their government to increase defense spending.
The stage is set for a resurrection of Canada’s military. The Trump administration understands that the United States cannot shoulder the burden of defense alone. The Europeans have also come to this reality. Twenty-three NATO countries now spend 2% of their GDP on defense, double the amount spent four years ago.
Now, it’s Canada’s turn. With the voice of its most important ally in its ear, there is no reason the next government cannot restore the Canadian military to its former greatness.
Jamie Tronnes is executive director of the Center for North American Prosperity and Security.
Anthony De Luca-Baratta is a contributor to the Center for North American Prosperity and Security at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. He is based in Washington.
