Canada has yet to meet NATO’s two per cent defence benchmark, yet the federal government is already pledging to boost spending to five per cent of GDP by 2035. That target framed CBC host Rob Brown’s conversation with Arctic security scholar Rob Huebert, who says the figure is not arbitrary but reflects growing vulnerabilities exposed by Russian aggression, China’s rise and the uncertainty of a second Donald Trump presidency.

On this episode of West of Centre Short, Huebert notes Canada’s last major northern military hardware upgrade came in the 1980s. True modernization, he says, means over-the-horizon radar, new satellites, F-35 fighter jets and even submarines — assets he argues must be based in the North.

For Huebert, Arctic defence is less about troops and more about sensors and rapid response capability. He is pushing for a revamped North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), deep-water ports and says even a potential West Coast oil pipeline could be counted under NATO’s infrastructure allowance. Fund the full package, he contends, and Canada would sail past five per cent “without even breaking a sweat.”

But politics casts a shadow over every dollar. Huebert says Canadians have rallied before, but only when leaders are candid about the stakes. Without that clarity, he warns, Canada risks under-spending, under-preparing — and waking up as a vassal state to the United States.

Host: Rob Brown | Producer & editor: Falice Chin | Guest: Rob Huebert