The senior U.S. diplomat in Ottawa says he is confident that Canada will make important investments this year to modernize its defense in the Arctic, although this month’s budget does not include money specifically for the job.
Ambassador David Cohen told CBC’s House in an interview this weekend that Canada should make Arctic aviation and naval defense a national priority. He said he had done so in “candid talks” with senior cabinet ministers since taking office in December.
“So I think it’s recognized that this budget doesn’t include funding for NORAD, modernizing and improving northern defense for Canada and the United States, but that it will be in this fiscal year,” he said.
The United States has long complained that Canada has failed to meet its commitment to NATO to increase its military spending to two percent of national GDP. Barack Obama raised him during his speech to parliament in 2016, when he was president. Donald Trump took the refrain even harder during his stay at the White House.
US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen spoke to a reporter in the boardroom of the US Embassy in Ottawa on February 22. (David Kawai / The Canadian Press)
Cohen is not a career diplomat or politician. On the other hand, he is a successful CEO and lobbyist, a man described by the Washington Post a decade ago as a politician with broad contacts at Beltway and the ability to solve complex problems.
These are also useful skills in Ottawa – where politicians pay much more attention to what is happening south of the border than their American counterparts show when it comes to Canadian politics.
CBC News: House 19:15 US Ambassador says Canada should make Arctic defense a “national priority”
US Ambassador David Cohen is sitting with host Chris Hall to discuss the state of Canada-US relations and next steps in modernizing NORAD, Arctic defense and integrated supply chains. 19:15
Russia and China are playing for Arctic resources
But North American security was a topic the United States was interested in long before Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and long before China began to establish itself as a polar power with claims to Arctic resources.
Cohen admitted during an interview at the US embassy that the budget did include another $ 8 billion in defense spending. But he said the growing activity of Russia and China in the north must be countered by a stronger Canadian presence at the top of the world.
“The United States has been told, I have been told by other White House and Washington officials, that when we discussed the $ 8 billion increase in defense spending, (we) were told not to forget that it didn’t even include anything. for the modernization of NORAD, “he said. “This will be a supplement as we continue to review what NORAD requires.”
A soldier holds a machine gun while patrolling the Russian northern military base on Koteln Island, beyond the Arctic Circle, on April 3, 2019 (Maxim Popov / AFP / Getty Images)
Liberal MP John McKay estimates that the cost of modernizing NORAD could reach billions of dollars.
McKay, chairman of the municipality’s defense committee, has been a vocal critic of Canada’s failure to respond to Russia’s growing military presence in the Arctic. He told CBC News that Russia has built or renovated 11 bases in the region, while Canada has only one base in Alert.
“There is an absolute need for the Canadian government to meet the military needs of the Arctic,” he said when asked about his reaction to Cohen’s comments.
“We underestimate, we constantly underestimate, Putin’s desire to engage militarily in the last few years. And we can’t afford that risk.”
However, the Prime Minister is not clear about Canada’s position. Justin Trudeau told reporters this week that security is only part of his government’s focus in the north. Tackling climate change and promoting economic opportunities for Inuit are equally important, he said.
“We are in a time of reflection on how to guarantee Canada’s continued sovereignty in the Arctic, and in past times or governments this would have happened through a military lens,” he said Thursday after announcing a new policy of engagement with the Inuit.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and PJ Akeeagok, president of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, walk along the shores of Pamiuja while visiting the Arctic Gulf in Nunavut on August 1, 2019. Akeeagok was elected Prime Minister of Nunavut in November 2021 (Sean Can Kilpa ). )
“Can we set up more bases in the north?” Can we show that we are ready to protect and control our Arctic? What is this policy, and frankly, the relationship we have built over the last few years in the Crown… Inuit Partnership [shows] is [that] sovereignty in the north goes through the people who have lived there and lived there for millennia. “
A spokesman for Defense Minister Anita Anand said Arctic defense was a key government priority.
Daniel Mindon wrote in an email that the 2021 budget includes $ 252 million for five years of initial military funding, “with new investments in situational awareness, modernized command and control systems, research and development, and defense capabilities to deter and defeat aerospace threats to that continent. “
The email also said that the 2022 budget goes further by “investing $ 6.1 billion in increased capabilities of the Canadian Armed Forces, including continental defense.”
Collaborating on shared defense priorities isn’t the only file on Cohen’s desk since he arrived in Ottawa just before protests against the vaccine mandate blocked the nation’s capital for weeks.
Compromise on the EV tax credit at work: Cohen
Trade and climate change are two other topics where there is potential for conflict.
The Trudeau government lobbied hard last year to release Canada from a proposal in President Joe Biden’s now-failed Build Back Better bill, which would give a $ 12,500 tax credit to buyers of electric vehicles – provided the vehicles are manufactured in the United States by union workers.
Cohen said the proposed tax credit to increase sales of electric vehicles in the United States is not dead, but a compromise is being worked on to ensure that Canadian auto parts suppliers are not shut down.
“I will remind you that the Prime Minister has in fact rejected a possible solution to the fact that if US legislation is rewritten to be North American, Canada will have fun increasing its credit for electric vehicles, which are usually in shape. of consumer discounts, “he said.
Driver turns on a Volkswagen e-Golf at a charging station at Lansdowne Mall in Peterborough, Ont., In June 2018 (The Canadian Press)
Cohen also sought to allay concerns about US protectionism and any ongoing concerns about the closure of the Ambassador Bridge by protesters in February, citing a speech this week by Biden’s director of the National Economic Council, Brian Deese.
“He said a lot in that speech, but the title of the issue is that it is not possible for the United States or any country to produce 100 percent of the components of our supply chain,” Cohen said. “We need to have strong partnerships and relationships with allies to ensure a reliable and sustainable supply chain.
“So now there is a direct answer from the White House to your question [about] whether the desire and commitment to maintain and expand the interconnection of the supply chain between Canada and the United States remains. “
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