Media ignores Halifax International Security Forum's defence industry funding
Not one mainstream article covering Defence Minister Bill Blair's military spending pledges at HISF noted the forum's ties to military contractors.
The Canadian government was put on the defensive at the annual Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) over the weekend for purportedly not spending enough money on the military.
The $30.5 billion (USD) Canada spent on the military in 2024 ranked seventh out of NATO’s 31 members, but NATO members agreed in 2014 to spend 2% of GDP on defence, and Canada spent 1.37% this year, ranking 27th, according to NATO figures.
At this year’s HISF, Defence Minister Bill Blair prostrated himself in front of 300 attendees from 60 countries, re-assuring them that Canada is well on the path to 2%, which was dutifully covered by the Associated Press, the Canadian Press, Global News and the Globe and Mail.
Not one of these outlets felt the need to mention that the HISF is sponsored by NATO and several defence contractors, who have a clear pecuniary interest in pressuring Canada to spend more on defence.
It’s not like you would have to look far to find HISF’s military sponsors. They’re listed quite freely on its website under the “Sponsors” tab.
In addition to NATO itself, HISF is the beneficiary of:
With these sponsors in mind, it’s wholly unsurprising that there would be no debate at the HISF about whether Canada should spend more on the military; it’s taken as a given.
The entire debate centred on how Canada should go about militarizing further and whether it’s on track to do so to NATO’s liking, which is no doubt just how HISF’s sponsors want it.
In the Globe and Mail, Ottawa-based reporter Steven Chase quoted a representative of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute to buttress Minister Blair’s claim that Canada needs to up its military spending to compete with China.
Institute president David Perry applauded Blair for having “pretty accurately characterized China from a defence and security perspective,” but wished the Canadian government would “reflect that view more consistently.”
The Canadian Global Affairs Institute is funded by the Canadian Department of National Defence, according to its 2022 annual report, making it far from an impartial observer.
It’s also, like HISF, funded by military contractors, including:
This is part of a persistent pattern, as Alex Cosh has previously reported at The Maple.
Mainstream media outlets present representatives of think tanks that have a financial stake in growing defence expenditures as independent experts, who predictably tell them that Canada needs to increase military spending, almost never disclosing their ties to the defence industry.
There’s nothing wrong with the media covering the HISF or quoting Canadian Global Affairs Institute fellows, but journalists should be transparent with their readers about whose interests are being represented.
And it wouldn’t hurt to occasionally get quotes for these stories from people who aren’t so gung ho about militarism.
The Rideau Institute, the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and Project Ploughshares all have experts readily available.
Presenting critical perspectives might put reporters on the wrong side of their government, military and defence industry sources, so instead we get the military-industrial complex ouroboros eating its tail.
The A/V Corner
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