Expert: Federal Budget 2022

The federal Liberals unveil their latest budget that aims to balance promises made in the 2021 election campaign, in the pact with the NDP, and recently to Canada's global defence allies. The 2022 budget released Thursday includes more than $31 billion in new spending over the next five years. It’s targeted at speeding the flow of goods through the country’s supply chains, boosting housing supply and jolting businesses out of an anemic period of investment. (Global News)

Here is an expert from McGill University that can provide comment on this issue:

Dirk Druet, Affiliate Member, Max Bell School of Public Policy and Adjunct Professor, Centre for International Peace and Security Studies

“Whether Canada's defence budget is 1.4% or 2% of GDP, the goal of our investment must be the return to a rules-based international order. F-35s alone won't get us there. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has laid bare the consequences for global security when states like the US and Canada signal that they are not committed to the norms and institutions that have helped prevent a third world war for over 75 years. A major increase in Canada's defence budget will therefore miss the mark if it isn't accompanied by a major recommitment to Canada's role in international cooperation and universal human rights. This means that we stop trading our values for our business interests in China and around the world. It means Canada taking a leadership role at the United Nations in defence of international norms of behaviour. And it means a genuine, sustained reengagement by the Canadian Armed Forces in international peacekeeping activities. Canadians need to understand that a strong role for Canada on this international stage is in our national security interest.”

Dirk Druet is an Affiliate Member of the Max Bell School of Public Policy and an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies, where he leads a research initiative on intelligence, surveillance and multilateral cooperation. He advises a number of research and policy institutions. In 2020, he was a member of an independent team undertaking a strategic review of civilian protection in United Nations peacekeeping operations mandated by the Secretary-General.

dirk.druet [at] mcgill.ca (English)