Ipsos found that a larger number of young people, 36 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds, say Canada should leave defence up to the United States, compared with 12 per cent of those 55 and older.

The majority of that younger cohort (66 per cent) would rather see money being spent on other domestic issues, whereas 41 per cent of those 55 and older felt that way.

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I understand the sentiments here. It is difficult to say "spend more on the military" when you are struggling to make ends meet and could use assistance. Though, military reliance on a country whose stability is wavering could end up sending us into turmoil in the future. Considering Canada has become an occasional target of the far-right in the USA, I'm not sure I would want to bet on their support indefinitely.

Geopolitically, it is better for the USA that one of their allies has sovereignty over the arctic. To that point, they have self-interest in helping our military capabilities, however, that doesn't necessarily mean it would be 'free.' They could place rather large demands on us for that support and depending on our level of desperation, we could be in a difficult position to bargain.

The better positioned our military is, the more likely we can avoid giving in to major demands in the future.