US calls Canada’s bluff on defense spending; 'pauses' 86-year-old alliance

The Pentagon appears to be sending Ottawa a message: Rhetoric is no substitute for military capability.The Department of Defense announced Monday it was “pausing” the 86-year-old Permanent Joint Board on Defense between the United States and Canada, according to Undersecretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby. The move comes amid mounting frustration in Washington over Canada’s chronic defense underinvestment — and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s increasingly confrontational rhetoric toward Preside...