Trudeau announces plans to more than double size of NATO ...
Plan to add 1,200 troops in Baltic country could take 3 years to complete
RCI
Posted: 1:47 PMUpdated: 6:39 PM
Canada plans to more than double the size of its contribution to a NATO mission in Latvia, adding 1,200 military personnel to its contingent in the Baltic country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday.
Not all of the troops will deploy right away, and it could take up to three years to fully realize the plans, which were laid out as part of Canada's strategy to lead a brigade in the region.
The federal government says it's committing $2.6 billion in funding over three years, but $1.4 billion of that was announced in the 2022 federal budget.
Trudeau made the announcement in the Latvian capital, Riga, at a joint press conference with Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, alongside Defence Minister Anita Anand.
This is the way forward in modern defence, Trudeau said. Almost a dozen countries from across NATO are co-operating, training and working alongside each other and learning valuable lessons from each other that make our collective defence stronger.
As NATO firms up military spending target, Canada is trying to broaden what counts: sources (new window)Ukraine looks to Trudeau to play key role in NATO membership bid (new window)ANALYSIS New defence spending goals, timing of Ukraine's admission to NATO expected to dominate summit (new window)Canada and Latvia signed an agreement Monday — a so-called roadmap for creating the NATO brigade.
At the moment, roughly 1,000 Canadian Armed Forces members serve in Latvia as part of a multinational battle group that was established in 2017 to deter Russian aggression in the region.
Trudeau reaffirms weapons pledgeThe roadmap does not contain commitments from other nations to contribute to the bigger formation, which NATO leaders mandated at their last summit in Madrid.
It's unclear how many of the additional 1,200 Canadian military personnel will belong to the army, which is already stretched for personnel.
WATCH | Canada ramping up role in NATO's Latvia mission:
Trudeau would only say the additional personnel will reinforce and enhance Canadian land, maritime and air capabilities and support special operations in central and eastern Europe.
He also restated the government's pledge to buy and pre-position critical weapon systems in the Baltic country.
The prime minister also highlighted the intelligence and cyber warfare help it is providing to Latvia as well.
Canada and all countries must be clear that Russia's unprovoked war on an independent country, on a free and democratic Ukraine, is a threat to freedom, international law, human rights and the whole set of shared democratic values that generations of soldiers have fought to defend, said Trudeau.
ANALYSIS NATO is getting ready to twist Canada's arm on defence spending (new window)U.K. defence secretary urges Canada to hit NATO military spending target (new window)Last month, it was announced Canada would deploy a squadron of Leopard 2 main battle tanks — 15 tanks in total — and about 130 personnel would join the mission starting this fall.
The announcement was made one day ahead of this year's NATO leaders summit in nearby Vilnius, Lithuania.
Trudeau met with some of the Canadian Armed Forces members who are stationed in Latvia later Monday before departing for Vilnius.
WATCH | Trudeau asked about Ukraine's possible path into NATO:
Murray Brewster (new window) · CBC News · Senior reporter, defence and security
Murray Brewster is senior defence writer for CBC News, based in Ottawa. He has covered the Canadian military and foreign policy from Parliament Hill for over a decade. Among other assignments, he spent a total of 15 months on the ground covering the Afghan war for The Canadian Press. Prior to that, he covered defence issues and politics for CP in Nova Scotia for 11 years and was bureau chief for Standard Broadcast News in Ottawa.
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