US Senator Dan Sullivan said Canada isn't pulling its weight when it comes to its defence. .The Alaskan Senator called out Canada "who just freeloads" on defence during a high-profile congressional hearing in Washington on Tuesday, as reported by the CBC..The hearing featured two top US intelligence officials — Avril Haines, director of national intelligence, and Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency..His remarks came during a discussion surrounding an additional $40 billion US in support for Ukraine expected to be approved by US Congress. .Sullivan said he was in favour of the funding the American government plans to send to Ukraine, but said he was getting fed up with the burden of military assistance landing on the US, specifically pointing a finger at Canada.."Are you seeing a shift in our NATO allies to say, 'You know what? It's time for us to pull our own weight, here. The Americans are doing it — once again,'" he said. ."We still have NATO allies, Canada one, who just freeload. And it's getting a little tiring.".By far, out of all participating NATO countries, the US has the largest annual defence expenditures, more than double that of all other NATO countries combined. .Sullivan asked the witnesses if they see other NATO allies stepping up to reach NATO's historic military spending target of 2% of GDP, pledged by members in 2014. ."If there was ever a time countries had to kind of wake up and say, 'You know what? For 40 years we've promised to hit 2% [of GDP]," said Sullivan.."The wolf's at the door. Maybe the bear's at the door, or the dragon's at the door. Whatever metaphor you want."."My understanding is Canada still won't even hit 1% of GDP.".In 2021, while the US spent 3.57% of its GDP on defence, Canada spent 1.36%, well under NATO's guideline of 2%. .To date, Canada has committed $245 million in humanitarian assistance, given combined loans amounting to $620 million to the Government of Ukraine, has offered a technical assistance grant of up to $6 million, and an additional $35 million in development funding to partners in Ukraine. .The federal government has also allocated an additional $500 million in military aid for Ukraine in the 2022–23 fiscal year and committed up to $8 billion in new money for the Department of National Defence, but will still fall short of NATO's 2% target.
