Mark Norman: Canada’s defence-spending quagmire

I was pleased to have been asked to contribute to the analysis of Canada’s defence spending and related metrics by the team at Benchmark Canada. I commend the process and believe it will be helpful in informing public discourse and debate about defence spending and the rebuilding of Canada’s military and security capabilities. With that said, however, building and maintaining an effective military is a complex undertaking and we should be careful what conclusions or inferences we draw from the analysis. I will refrain from focusing too much on the data itself, and instead I will try to provide context and a broader understanding of the implications of what the analysis tells us.