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U.S. envoy closely eyes Canada defence spending; says NATO about collective defence
OTTAWA — The American ambassador to Canada is closely watching as Ottawa shapes its defence budget, but says the U.S. will not dictate what the Canadian government must spend. "We're not expecting anything; that's not our job to make those expectations," Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said in an interview with The Canadian Press this past Friday, a day after NATO defence ministers endorsed new spending targets. Hoekstra also said the point of the NATO military alliance is to defend each other when under attack. He noted Americans haven't forgotten the "investment and the sacrifice" Canadian troops made in Afghanistan when the U.S. invoked the NATO treaty's article on collective defence. "They were fulfilling the commitment that they made to NATO — that when one of us is attacked we are all attacked, and we will defend each other," Hoekstra said of Canadian soldiers. Hoekstra was not directly commenting on U.S. President Donald Trump's statement in March that Washington would not necessarily come to the aid of countries that don't pay their fair share on defence and that Canada has been freeloading on American defence of the continent. He did acknowledge Canada's defence spending has been an "irritant" in the relationship with the U.S. This past week, defence ministers from NATO countries met in Brussels to discuss raising the member spending target on defence to as much as five per cent of GDP. Canada has never met NATO's existing spending target of two per cent since it was established in 2006. Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney are engaged in what both sides have characterized as "intensive" discussions toward the new economic and security deal the two leaders agreed to work on once the Canadian election concluded in April. NATO figures suggest Canada's defence spending rose from about one per cent in 2014 to 1.33 per cent in 2023. The NATO secretary-general's annual report, released in April, said Canada's defence spending would hit 1.45 per cent for 2024. In terms of absolute dollars, a Canadian Global Affairs Institute analysis last year said Canada ranks as the seventh largest spender in NATO, and the 14th largest in the world. Carney promised during the recent election campaign to move up Canada's deadline for meeting the 2 per cent threshold from 2032 to 2030 or sooner but has not yet shown a plan for how to do that. It will require Canada to add billions of new dollars annually. The prime minister is set to join other heads of government from NATO countries for an annual summit starting June 24 in the Netherlands. They are expected to approve a new defence investment plan that defence ministers hammered out this week, which would have member nations invest 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence spending, and 1.5 per cent on defence and security-related investment such as infrastructure and resilience. That proposal is coming amid waning American commitments and a revanchist Russia. In recent years, both Democrats and Republicans have urged Canada to boost its Arctic defence, and the previous Biden administration praised much of what Ottawa outlined in an Arctic foreign policy last year. Trump has suggested defence of the Arctic is part of his "Golden Dome" plan for a continental missile-defence shield. On May 27, the president said he told Ottawa it would cost US$61 billion to be part of the project. Hoekstra said he hasn't seen a breakdown of the costs, but said the "really awesome technology" is likely estimated at "proportionally what we think the Canadian share should be." Defence Minister David McGuinty said Canada was reviewing its defence spending from "top to bottom" and would have more to say about its plans soon, though the government isn't planning to table a budget until the fall. Hoekstra framed NATO as part of the wide partnership the U.S. has with Canada in security, which also includes secure energy flows and stopping illicit drugs. "We need to do the things that will keep our citizens safe," Hoekstra said. "There are a lot of things that Americans and Canadians have in common, and we're looking forward to great days." Hoekstra said Trump is trying to take the U.S. off an unsustainable trajectory, which he framed as millions of people crossing the U.S. border undocumented, spending way beyond government revenue and large trade deficits. "The president is transforming that, because we need to," he said. Trump's discussions with Carney will likely include the sweeping reform of border security that the Liberals tabled in Parliament last week. Hoekstra had yet to go through the legislation as of Friday. The ambassador said he's focused on win-win policies for both countries and not the prospect of Canada becoming an American state, despite Trump raising the notion as a way for Canadians to save on the cost of joining his Golden Dome project. Former Canadian diplomat Colin Robertson has said Hoekstra is limited in how much he can diverge from Trump's comments. But he said the ambassador has great access to the president, and his public messaging likely reveals how he has been advising Trump. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2025. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
Globe and Mail
08-05-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
The scraps of war
As Canadian and Allied troops drove the German army out of the Dutch city of Groningen on April 16, 1945, they were greeted as heroes by the local population. Among the throng of well-wishers was a 25-year-old teacher named Klaas Nieborg who was desperate to collect some mementos from the Canadian liberators. Mr. Nieborg spoke just enough English to ask the soldiers if they would sign a scrapbook he was putting together. Dozens and dozens obliged. They not only signed their names but many also added their home addresses and scrawled messages to Mr. Nieborg. Some handed over photos of their wives, children, brothers, sisters. Others gave the young teacher scraps of Canadian candy bar wrappers, cigarette packages, used train tickets and even a fragment of a parachute – all of which he carefully pasted onto the pages. Mr. Nieborg became such a fastidious collector that he started another scrapbook and ultimately covered 250 pages in memorabilia between April and August, 1945. The scrapbooks were stored in the Nieborg family home for more than 70 years before finally ending up in the regional archives in Zwolle, a small Dutch city roughly 100 kilometres south of Groningen which was also liberated by Canadian forces around the same time. In honour of the 80th anniversaries of Zwolle's liberation and Victory in Europe (VE) Day on May 8, which commemorates Germany's surrender, the archives staff have made digital copies of the scrapbooks and they hope to track down relatives of the hundreds of soldiers who left their mark. 'It would be great if we could communicate to Canada that these notebooks exist and try to tell the story of how important Canada was for us,' said Vincent Robijn, the director of the archives known as Collectie Overijssel. 'Especially nowadays it's important to say 'thank you' and to also realize there's a strong connection between Europe and Canada. And maybe we can tell our story in Canada and say, 'We have a mutual a shared history.'' The scrapbooks came to light almost by chance and nearly ended up collecting dust in the archives. They first surfaced in 2019 as Zwolle was preparing to mark the 75th anniversary of the city's liberation. Mr. Robijn and his staff decided to tour some towns in the region to see if people had anything from the war they wanted to donate to the archives. 'We thought, we won't find anything because we already know everything about the war in the Netherlands,' he recalled. 'We didn't realize that a lot people had material that was still at home in their basements and attics.' A long line of people showed up with letters, diaries and photographs. Someone even brought a stainless steel toilet from a British warplane. Among those who came was Mr. Nieborg's son, Joop. He'd been hanging onto the scrapbooks for years. 'There was a drive in the family to do something with these books,' Joop recalled. Mr. Robijn and his staff were amazed at the contents. They thought about handing the books over to the archives in Groningen but decided to keep them in Zwolle because many of the same Canadian soldiers were also likely involved in the liberation of that city as well. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 75th celebrations in 2020 and the scrapbooks sat on a shelf in the archives for another four years. About six months ago, as Zwolle geared up to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation, Mr. Robijn suddenly remembered the books. 'I said to my colleagues, 'We have to do something with these notebooks.'' He tried to decipher the soldiers' names, addresses and hometowns but he was overwhelmed by so many unfamiliar places. He nearly gave up but then one of his co-workers, Anniek van Dijk-van Leeuwen, suggested they seek help from a couple of Canadians who were already involved in a project with the archives. Geoff Osborne, from Toronto, had been searching for a photograph of his grandfather, Earl Olmsted, who was part of the Canadian division that freed Zwolle on April 14, 1945. Mr. Osborne also worked closely with Nathan Kehler, a Canadian army veteran who leads an Ottawa-based non-profit group called Canadian Research and Mapping Association. The association has been mapping the location of every Second World War Canadian army soldier and digitizing millions of war records to make them easier to search online. Mr. Osborne and Mr. Kehler have started looking at how they can help the archives make Mr. Neiborg's scrapbooks more accessible to Canadians. 'I think it's a great opportunity to allow people to research and see if they can find their grandfather or relatives' names and really build a story behind it,' said Mr. Kehler. Mr. Osborne said the beauty of the scrapbooks is that they are so personal. Just seeing the soldiers' handwriting brings them back to life, he added. 'It's like a light switch when you're talking about history.' Zwolle has long celebrated the role Canadian troops played in freeing the city and in particular the heroics of Leo Major, a one-eyed French Canadian soldier who single-handedly got the Germans to leave Zwolle by tricking them into thinking an Allied assault had begun. Mr. Robijn said the scrapbooks demonstrate that there are many more stories to tell. 'Of course, it's not only about the big heroes. There are also all these men and also women who came to the Netherlands to play a part in the liberation,' he said. 'And now we know a lot of more.'
