The Pentagon wants to see Canada articulate a clear plan on how the country intends to meet NATO’s new military spending benchmark before resuming binational defence planning co-operation.
The absence of a plan to spend 3.5 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product on the military, plus an additional 1.5 per cent of GDP on defence infrastructure, appears to be at the heart of this week’s suspension of the U.S.–Canada Permanent Joint Board on Defence (PJBD).
Senior Pentagon officials, speaking on background Thursday to mostly Canadian journalists, also cited the absence of a decision on whether to proceed with the full purchase of American-made F-35 fighter jets as another major irritant.
