Cabinet ministers watch their words as pressure builds on defence file

OTTAWA — National defence is becoming an increasingly thorny topic for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government as Canada comes under heavy pressure from its allies to do more and spend more.

But with just weeks to go until NATO member nations assemble in the Netherlands for a summit that could put Ottawa in the hot seat on defence spending, several of his ministers took the unusual step of removing themselves from discussions with defence reporters this week at Canada’s largest defence industry show.

On Thursday, TV cameras chased Industry Minister Mélanie Joly halfway across the show floor at the CANSEC conference in Ottawa. The previous day, Defence Minister David McGuinty ignored media questions at the conference and ducked into a VIP area to evade reporters.

Other key figures in cabinet, such as Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound, also attended the trade show but did not speak to media.

Carney has said he has big plans for national defence. Defence accounted for some of the biggest-spending items in the Liberals’ election platform.

The prime minister has committed to shelling out billions of dollars to rapidly build out the armed forces and completely retool how Canada purchases military weaponry. Behind the scenes, he has worked to get Canada into a major European defence procurement pact.

While both Joly and McGuinty cancelled planned media availabilities at CANSEC, both later made themselves available to other reporters across town on Parliament Hill.

Joanna Kanga, a spokesperson for Joly, said the minister cancelled her scheduled availabilities on Thursday because she had a “conflicting meeting” and had no time at all to take questions in the morning.

Two of Carney’s ministers conspicuously departed from the government’s script earlier this month — Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault by holding forth on pipeline policy and Housing Minister Gregor Robertson by saying that housing prices should not go down — stepping on Carney’s message of the day about cutting taxes.

It all suggests a shift in communications strategy for the government, which seems to be keeping its ministers on a shorter leash than did former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Current and former government officials from other countries — including Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state in the first administration of U.S. President Donald Trump — stepped up to the microphones at CANSEC to field questions.

Canada has consistently failed to meet its pledge to ramp up defence spending to the NATO benchmark of two per cent of national GDP. NATO member nations are expected to increase that benchmark to five per cent at the summit later this month — at Trump’s behest.

Boosting defence spending to that new level would require tens of billions of dollars in new spending at a time when Canadians are struggling with the high cost of living.

A former NATO secretary general said Thursday that member countries failing to hit their spending targets will find themselves under scrutiny at the summit.

“That is going to be a point of contention,” Lord George Robertson said.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, a former foreign affairs minister for Lithuania, told The Canadian Press “we would like to see Canada stepping up.”

“If we’re one alliance, one threat, that means that the answer to the threat has to be in solidarity,” he said.

None of the speakers at CANSEC were entirely critical of Canada and several and highlighted areas for co-operation.

Landsbergis said the United States’ cooling attitude toward NATO and other multilateral institutions is forcing countries like his own to strengthen partnerships that otherwise might have been overlooked, and is pushing Europe’s procurement focus away from American-based defence companies.

“I see a lot of potential for what Canada can do,” he said, citing how Canada’s contribution to Latvia’s defence “is something that actually is a deterrent.

“How do we make that visible and impress the message, not just to Latvians or the Balts but to Russians, that look, we are here and we’re ready to fight?”

Robertson also said Thursday he is releasing a “bold and trailblazing” report on procurement for the U.K. government next week. He said it will suggest ways to reform a sluggish procurement process so industry can supply matériel at the speed of a modern conflict like the war in Ukraine.

That might be a document Carney’s government could crib notes from as it looks to overhaul Canada’s own defence procurement process.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press