Members of the Canadian army during the Crystal Arrow 2022 exercise in Adazi, Latvia.Paulius Peleckis/Getty Images
The U.S. government is suspending a joint defence advisory body and accusing Canada of failing to live up to its military responsibilities, despite Ottawa ratcheting up defence spending over the past year and moving to do more.
Elbridge Colby, the U.S. undersecretary of defence for policy, made the announcement in a series of social media posts, in which he cited continuing American upset with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s viral World Economic Forum speech four months ago, which was widely seen as critical of President Donald Trump.
“Unfortunately, Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments. DoW is pausing the Permanent Joint Board on Defense to reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defense,” he wrote, using the acronym for “department of war,” the term the Trump administration uses to refer to the Department of Defense.
Mr. Colby included a link to Mr. Carney’s January speech in Davos, Switzerland, and a map of North America. “We can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality,” Mr. Colby wrote, saying Canada should prioritize “hard power over rhetoric.”
He also indicated that he had recently hosted Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, at the Pentagon, to discuss how they could make sure Canada met NATO defence spending targets.
The Permanent Joint Board on Defense, first established in 1940, is made up of military leaders and diplomats who consider major strategic issues in Canada-U.S. defence and make recommendations to both countries’ governments. It meets infrequently and some experts view it as having little influence now compared to its Cold War heyday.
Mr. Colby did not say why the U.S. was making this move now or what specifically Washington wants to see from Ottawa on defence. A Pentagon spokesperson, Thomas Crosson, told The Globe and Mail that he had no additional information.
Defence Minister David McGuinty pushed back on Mr. Colby’s criticism. In a written statement, he said Ottawa is making “the largest investments in Canadian defence and security in decades,” and is on track to spend five per cent of GDP on defence by 2035, a commitment Mr. Trump extracted from NATO members at a summit last year.
Among other things, Mr. McGuinty cited a partnership with Australia to build an Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar system as part of modernizing NORAD – the joint Canada-U.S. airspace early-warning network – along with plans to procure 12 under-ice submarines and 88 fighter jets.
“We have taken historic action in the past year to modernize our continental defences and demonstrate our continuing commitment to NORAD, as we work with our American partners to defend against emerging threats,” he wrote.
Mr. Colby’s announcement comes as Canada’s previous commitment to buy 88 F-35 fighter jets from U.S. defence contractor Lockheed Martin remains in limbo. It also follows last week’s summit between Mr. Trump and Xi Jinping, at which the Chinese leader warned of potential future “conflicts” with the U.S. over Taiwan.
U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby says 'Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments.'Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The U.S. President, meanwhile, is casting about for a way out of the war he started with Iran and has repeatedly complained that other countries haven’t stepped in to break the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Since taking office last year, Mr. Carney has jacked up military spending, finally fulfilling a 2014 commitment to spend at least two per cent of GDP on defence in response to longstanding complaints from Mr. Trump. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau had previously set a date of 2032 to reach the benchmark.
The Prime Minister has also said Canada is interested in joining Mr. Trump’s planned Golden Dome missile defence system.
Experts said the U.S. putting the joint defence board on ice was mostly a symbolic act that could be aimed at turning up the pressure on Canada to buy more military equipment from the U.S., such as the F-35s.
Imran Bayoumi, a defence strategy expert at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, said the U.S.’s move was “meant to probably raise some eyebrows in Canada.”
Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, the U.S. has taken a more “coercive approach” with allies that tries to influence behaviour through “sticks more than carrots,” he said. “What is this meant to push Canada towards doing and what kind of behaviour is the U.S. trying to change?”
Opinion: Carney calls for resistance in a world of ravenous powers
Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, who has long pushed for Canada to spend more on defence, said since Mr. Carney took over, there has been a “180-degree difference” with the increase in attention Canada is paying to the military.
“I know from speaking with U.S. officials and Americans more broadly that they’ve noticed a more significant focus on on defence, on joint defence, on the Arctic,” Mr. O’Toole, who serves on the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations, said in an interview. “We are not worthy of the sort of criticism of the tweet today.”
Mr. O’Toole said Mr. Colby’s announcement might be part of a “public negotiation” over F-35s.
Last year, Ottawa launched a review of the planned purchase in response to Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Canada and “51st state” annexation threats. The results of that review have still not been released.
Mr. Carney’s Davos speech in January did not name Mr. Trump but was widely understood as referring to him in its call for middle powers to band together against global “hegemons” seeking to subordinate them through coercive economic practices. “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” he warned.
Read and watch Mark Carney's Davos speech at the World Economic Forum
Mr. Trump appeared unnerved by the address, telling the Davos crowd in his own speech that “Mark” should be more “grateful” to the U.S.
Colin Robertson, a former diplomat and vice-president at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said the U.S. move on Monday might not have had a specific cause and may just be part of the Trump administration’s general annoyance with Canada.
“I think it is always the best way to proceed and find out if there’s anything to this,” Mr. Robertson said. “This may just be noise. So much in the Canada-U.S. relationship under Trump is just noise.”
Mr. Robertson said the defence board did not have much import anymore, unlike during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. “I’m not sure that it has much weight with either government,” he said.
Adam Chapnick, a professor in defence studies at the Royal Military College of Canada, said on Monday that the U.S. suspending the board sends “an awful message.”
At an event last week in Washington, Mark Wiseman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., said Ottawa was committed to keeping its stepped-up defence spending rolling.
“We’re arguably the most important security relationship that the United States has. And it’s not been perfect. Canada has under-spent,” he told a conference of the Canada-United States Law Institute. “We know that, we admit to it.”