2 ms·

Canada (and most of Europe, for that matter) don't bear the costs of their own defense. That helps a lot. You may be wondering who would want to attack Canada.

Canada (and most of Europe, for that matter) don't bear the costs of their own defense. That helps a lot. You may be wondering who would want to attack Canada. Well, you have an awful lot of wheat and oil, and China has an awful lot of hungry people and factories.

cal5k 9y ago
China spends less than half what America spends on defense, and yet nobody is crazy enough to want to attack China. I'd also argue that a de-escalation in defence spending is entirely possible without sacrificing national security. Would China invade Canada if the world's defence budgets dropped precipitously? Probably not - it has far more to gain through trade than by attempted colonization. In fact, last time I checked nobody in Canada or Western Europe was asked to vote on the US defense budget. I'd gladly vote to cut it in half and devote more to shoring up your healthcare system, but it's a sovereign issue and it's up to Americans to solve it for themselves.
- Turing_Machine 9y ago
  > China spends less than half what America spends on defense We're not talking about what China spends. We're talking about what Canada spends. Which wouldn't be enough to defend against Mexico in a fair fight, much less China. > Probably not - it has far more to gain through trade than by attempted colonization. Yeah, well, you might want to talk to Tibet, Vietnam, and India about that. Or, for that matter, any of the people who are being displaced by Chinese colonization in Africa as we speak. Edit: lots of food for thought here. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=chinese+colonization+africa&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=chinese+colonization+africa&ia=web
  - cal5k 9y ago
    This is actually a perfectly logical thing for Canada to do given our geographic proximity and economic ties. Do you know what would happen if the US suddenly dropped its defense budget and pledged not to defend its NATO allies? We'd spend more on defense. Although to be frank, the idea of Canada facing China solo in a military conflict is ridiculous. In 2017 we spent around $19B on a federal budget of about $311B. If you accounted for provincial budgets, it's probably close to $500B in annual expenditures. We could easily triple our military spending without adversely affecting the economy. The more important question: why does the US spend so damn much?

cal5k 9y ago

China spends less than half what America spends on defense, and yet nobody is crazy enough to want to attack China. I'd also argue that a de-escalation in defence spending is entirely possible without sacrificing national security. Would China invade Canada if the world's defence budgets dropped precipitously? Probably not - it has far more to gain through trade than by attempted colonization. In fact, last time I checked nobody in Canada or Western Europe was asked to vote on the US defense budget. I'd gladly vote to cut it in half and devote more to shoring up your healthcare system, but it's a sovereign issue and it's up to Americans to solve it for themselves.

Turing_Machine 9y ago
> China spends less than half what America spends on defense We're not talking about what China spends. We're talking about what Canada spends. Which wouldn't be enough to defend against Mexico in a fair fight, much less China. > Probably not - it has far more to gain through trade than by attempted colonization. Yeah, well, you might want to talk to Tibet, Vietnam, and India about that. Or, for that matter, any of the people who are being displaced by Chinese colonization in Africa as we speak. Edit: lots of food for thought here. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=chinese+colonization+africa&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=chinese+colonization+africa&ia=web
- cal5k 9y ago
  This is actually a perfectly logical thing for Canada to do given our geographic proximity and economic ties. Do you know what would happen if the US suddenly dropped its defense budget and pledged not to defend its NATO allies? We'd spend more on defense. Although to be frank, the idea of Canada facing China solo in a military conflict is ridiculous. In 2017 we spent around $19B on a federal budget of about $311B. If you accounted for provincial budgets, it's probably close to $500B in annual expenditures. We could easily triple our military spending without adversely affecting the economy. The more important question: why does the US spend so damn much?