Centre for the Study of Civic Renewal
Fast Facts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2002

CANADA AND DEFENCE:
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS, INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

o In 1989, Canada's military personnel numbered 86,000. By 1997/98, according to the Department of National Defence, the number had been reduced to 60,000.

o In 1997/98, Canada's defence budget represent approximately 1.2% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the lowest level of spending on defence since before the Second World War.

o Since World War II, Canada and the United States have, according to a Department of National Defence backgrounder on "Defence Co-operation" signed more than 2,500 joint defence agreements.

o According to two Ipsos Reid surveys released in 2001, 58% of Canadians oppose American plans for the building of an Anti-Ballistic Missile system and 36% of Canadians believe U.S. President George W. Bush has made the world "less safe", while 9% believe he has made it more so.

o Although traditionally a defensive alliance, with an explicitly military mandate, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) now counts among its "partners" several such traditionally neutral countries as Austria, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland.

o In 1998, France spent 2.8% of its Gross Domestic Product on defence; the United Kingdom, 2.7%; the United States, 3.1%; Finland, 2.0%; and Sweden, 2.1%.

o According to the Spring/Summer 1998 edition of The OECD Observer, spending on research and development aimed at developing new technologies has, "a decisive impact … on industrial performance and international competitiveness". The same article points out that, "A high proportion of military spending is in R&D."

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