Having long argued that Canada should have fulfilled its 2014 NATO commitment to increase its spending on defence to 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) years ago, we agree with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to meet that target in this fiscal year.

That’s seven years ahead of former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to do so.

That said, it would never have happened without unrelenting pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump — the U.S. last year spent 3.2% of its GDP on defence and accounted for more than 60% of the total for all NATO countries.

That was made clear by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, crediting Trump for the fact that, for the first time in its history, all members of the 32-nation military alliance are meeting or exceeding the 2% target.

“For too long, European allies and Canada were too reliant on U.S. military might,” Rutte said. “We did not take enough responsibility for our own security, but there has been a real shift in mindset.”

That said, wars aren’t fought by accountants and spending more money on defence won’t assure us of a properly equipped and effective military after years of neglect, unless it’s done competently.

With defence spending in Canada this year at $62.7 billion, compared to $20 billion in 2014, and on its way to $150 billion in 2035 — when Canada has pledged to spend 5% of GDP on defence and security — taxpayers can’t afford the military spending fiascos of the past.

Examples range from the replacement of Canada’s ancient Sea King helicopters, to the purchase of four second-hand and problem-prone British subs, to the auditor general’s scathing report last year on the billions of dollars already wasted because of poor decision-making in Canada’s planned purchase of 88 U.S. F-35 fighter jets to replace Canada’s fleet of aging CF-18s.

Far too often in Canada, politics has entered the decision-making about military purchases instead of getting the best bang for the buck.

Carney himself has already introduced the complicating possibility of buying a mixed fleet of fighter jets, which would include both F-35s — the choice of our military and defence department — and the Swedish-made Saab Gripen-E fighter jet.