Just weeks after he was elected for a second term as U.S. president, but nearly two months before his inauguration, Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian imports by 25 per cent. Surely, it’s only a matter of time until he pressures Canada to do more militarily to help safeguard North America and the West at large.

With the U.S. engaged in an arms race with China, which has been increasingly asserting its sovereignty claims over international waters, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the instability in the Middle East, the world grows more dangerous.

This past November, for instance, the federal government implemented a GST break which runs until mid-February and will cost between $1.5 and $2.7 billion. That largesse followed a new national dental care program, which was rolled out at the end of 2023 and had an estimated price tag of some $13 billion over five years and $4.4 billion annually after that. Then there was the national child-care plan introduced in 2021 that the parliamentary budget officer estimated will cost close to $28.3 billion by the end of next year. In these three initiatives alone, Ottawa has added billions to the national budget; the national debt, meanwhile, is already an estimated $1,532.3 billion.

And for defence? The feds promised in July 2024 that the country will spend two per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on its military by 2032—seven years from now. In the meantime, Canada will continue to rely on its fleet of 12 30-plus-year-old Halifax-class frigates, its four 1980s-era submarines with no under-ice capability, and the 30-year-old fleet of tactical helicopters. Note, too, the country has no real troop air defences and has a deficit of some 16,500 military personnel. Even though there were 70,080 applicants in 2023-24, only 4,301 were accepted.

The state of Canada’s defences has gotten so bad that Defence Minister Bill Blair has made clear his willingness to increase his department’s budget much quicker.

“My goal is to do it as quickly as possible,” Blair told CBC in late January, “and I’m increasingly confident we’ll be able to.”

Indeed, facing continuing criticism of military spending in the days immediately following Trump’s January inauguration, Blair indicated the government would meet the two per cent target by 2027, five years earlier than promised.

“We’ve been working hard to accelerate that spending to get the job done,” Blair continued. “But that’s in Canada’s national interests, it’s not just in response to threats made by what we’ve always considered our closest ally and friend.”

Still, Canada will have to face the inevitable: how to achieve the two per cent of GDP minimum? There are no easy solutions, especially for a government that continues to bloat the country’s debt with tax breaks and new social programs.

Sure, dental care is a worthy cause for Canadians who don’t already have it. And so is child care. But, in light of the geopolitical powder keg around the world right now, it would seem Canada doesn’t have its priorities straight. Indeed, should some disaster occur in the North that the country can’t handle because it has neither the ships nor the aircraft to respond adequately, will Canada continue to undermine its sovereignty by begging others for help?

The country’s priorities are set by the federal government, one that long ago decided that investing in social programs was far more important than the nation’s defence. Canadians can get rattled at Trump’s sometimes-ridiculous pronouncements, but when business and trade groups, premiers, and many everyday Canadians realize the country isn’t doing enough for its own defence, it also becomes apparent something must be done.

If Trump has his way, as he often does, something will change—and soon.