NATO urges Canada to hike defence $$
OTTAWA -- NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson urged Canada and other allies yesterday to take on terrorists by hiking military spending.
Robertson called on NATO members to return to Cold War defence spending levels, where "we spent untold billions of dollars to ensure our safety and that of future generations."
"We must approach the new security challenges with the same vigour, the same commitment and the same willingness to spend money on the right things," Robertson told about 300 politicians at the closing of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Ottawa yesterday.
"If we don't all stand in solidarity then there will be precious little to defend at the end of the day."
Robertson said some NATO members have fallen behind on promises to keep their militaries up to par.
"I am therefore determined to hold all NATO allies to their commitments," he said.
"And all allies need to show a new willingness to develop serious crisis management capabilities, with new military hardware and, therefore, with new money."
Robertson said it's "scandalous" that countries have a difficult time filling the six-month 40,000-strong peacekeeping rotations in the Balkans.
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