A US Senator Called Canada A Freeloader On Military Spending & Said It's 'A Little Tiring'
The senator insinuated that the U.S. is doing more than other countries and nations need to "wake up."
Justin Trudeau with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine. Right: Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan.
A U.S. senator has taken aim at Canada and called the country a freeloader when it comes to military spending.
At a congressional hearing on May 10 in Washington, D.C., Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan brought up Canada twice during an exchange about an additional US$40 billion in support for Ukraine.
"If there was ever a time countries had to kind of wake up and say, 'You know what? For 40 years we've promised to hit 2% and the wolf's at the door,'" Sullivan said.
He was referring to NATO's military spending target of 2% of GDP, which Canada is not expected to meet even with additional defence spending that was announced in the 2022 federal budget.
"The Germans made a big announcement, my understanding is Canada still won't even hit 1% of GDP for their defence budget," Sullivan said.
He continued by asking top U.S. intelligence officials at the hearing, "Are you seeing a shift in our NATO allies to say, 'You know what? It's time for us to pull our own weight here. The Americans are doing it once again.'"
The senator said he supports everything that the U.S. is doing to help Ukraine but he noted that US$40 billion is a lot of money to give while other countries aren't giving as much.
"We still have NATO allies, Canada one, who just freeload and it's getting a little tiring," Sullivan said.
The Canadian federal government has provided support to Ukraine including lethal and non-lethal equipment, training on weapons and CA$25 million in protective military gear.
Also, an additional $500 million in military aid for Ukraine has been promised for 2022 and 2023.
Canada's minister of national defence said the Canadian Armed Forces are ready to assist in the region and military personnel have been put on standby to deploy to the NATO Response Force.