Canada Pledges to Meet NATO Spending Goal. It Won’t Be Easy.

Long seen as punching below its weight, Canada, the world’s second-largest country by area and one of its seven wealthiest economies, said it would meet its NATO pledge to significantly bolster its military spending by 2032.

But everything about the commitment, which NATO is pushing all alliance members to make, is fraught.

Some have criticized the timeline as too protracted, though it is actually compressed if seen through the lens of the slow pace of global military hardware production.

Canadians, much like many citizens across the developed world, are concerned about housing and public services. Convincing them that it is necessary to dedicate billions of dollars to military equipment will not be easy.

And Canada is expected to hold elections some time before October 2025, meaning that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s defense pledge will not be binding if he loses to his conservative opponent, Pierre Poilievre, who is considered a serious challenger.

“I make promises that I can keep and right now we are, our country, is broke,” Mr. Poilievre said last week, declining to abide by the spending target.