Prime Minister Mark Carney has committed Canada to an ambitious goal of 5 per cent defence spending by 2035.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Canada has joined NATO members in committing to the most significant collective military investment since the Cold War. Ottawa now needs to avoid repeating the mistake it finished making just last month.

That would be a years-long pantomime of making commitments on the world stage without a plan to support them – a parade of empty promises that has left Canada one of the few NATO members still short of the alliance’s defence spending target.

Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed that gap in an announcement last month that defence spending would hit 2 per cent of GDP this fiscal year. Now, with Canada committed to an even more ambitious goal – 5 per cent by 2035 – he must break from the missteps of his predecessor, whose delays and deflections earned Canada the shameful distinction of NATO laggard.

For years, former prime minister Justin Trudeau vowed Canada would fulfill its promise but never built a roadmap: no internal benchmarks, timelines or accountability.

© The Globe and Mail