The Canadian government’s recent defence policy update, Our North: Strong and Free, was recently released with considerable fanfare. Promised for a year, the delay seemed to indicate the Liberal government’s budgetary pressures given the ballooning deficit.In the end, it was more heat than light and was less of an update to address a worsening international security environment than a simple restatement of traditional approaches to Canada’s defence.Announced by a joint team of the prime minister, deputy prime minister and both the defence and veterans affairs ministers — with a backdrop framed by Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft at CFB Trenton — the government went to considerable effort to portray this policy as a marked change in direction for Canada.Arctic focusIn particular, the update squarely focuses on Canada’s North.Previous policies — like Brian Mulroney’s 1987 white paper, Challenge and Commitment and Stephen Harper’s 2008 Canada First Defence Strategy — had strong Arctic themes, but this one puts the emphasis right in the title.Within the Department of National Defence, hopes were high that the government might announce something major, perhaps even a commitment to replace the Navy’s four Victoria-class submarines.Canada has been under significant international pressure to boost its defence spending. While historically this has been true since the 1970s, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s admission last year that Canada would never meet its promised NATO commitment to spend two per cent of its GDP on defence has caused that pressure to intensify.Certainly, the numbers announced look impressive: $8.1 billion in the next five years and $73 billion over the next 20 years. However, even these figures are not enough to push Canada beyond 1.76 per cent, and then only by 2029-30. (ICE TORONTO)

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