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As the Canadian government seeks to make progress with the next U.S. administration, former Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau says Canada must take U.S. security concerns seriously and accelerate the timeline for Canada to meet its NATO defence spending obligations.

Morneau made the remarks during an exclusive television interview with CTV News chief political correspondent Vassy Kapelos at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday.

“As Canadians, I think it’s very important for us to think about how we work with whoever is in the White House and how we build relationships with both parties,” Morneau said, noting that the trend toward protectionist policies among Democrats and Republicans means Canada must step up its efforts in other areas to appease Washington.

“We need to think about what’s really important to Americans. We need to think hard about our approach to defense. The world is becoming more dangerous. “We’re not meeting the challenges that we face as a country,” Morneau said. “That’s very important to the United States.”

The Liberal government announced last month, under increasing pressure from its allies, that it would meet the alliance’s goal of spending 2% of its GDP on defence by 2032.

Canada currently spends only 1.37 percent of its GDP on defence.

“I think we need to think seriously not only about how we meet our NATO commitments within the timeframes that we have set, but also how we can do it more quickly to ensure that America can see us moving forward,” Morneau said.

Speeding up the timeline for Canada to reach its 2% obligation would require the federal government to spend billions more each year.

“Yes, it’s expensive. Yes, it’s about $15 billion more a year, and that’s a lot, but think about the importance of our trade relationship with the United States. Think about the need for us to ally with our partners,” Morneau said.

The former finance minister acknowledged that the federal government must make difficult choices to deliver historic investments in defence within a fiscally responsible framework.

You can watch Morneau’s full interview in the video player at the top of this article.