In answer to the headline question: No.

Avi: I don’t believe we need to spend 2% of our GDP on military spending, as we need that money for other things, including the climate emergency, which is costing us more money while destroying towns and filling our lungs with smoke. The idea that we should now move to 5% of GDP is a destructive and nihilistic fantasy, pouring fuel on the climate fire.

He's right. On the three points you reply to that with: 1. It doesn't matter what the USA or anyone else says about it. 2. Massive spending on conventional military tools is not the best way to respond to threats from the USA. If you're really looking for lessons from Iran that's one of them. 3. Funding the military-industrial complex in Europe and Asia isn't all that much better for Canada than funding the military-industrial complex in the USA.

Spending 5% of GPD on the armed forces is utter madness. People tend to think "oh, only 5% that sounds small" forgetting that it's not 5% of government spending — it's 5% of all the goods and services produced by everyone in Canada, making it more like 25% of federal government revenue and presumably an even larger fraction of discretionary spending. It's hard to imagine how to put up a defence of that idea that would be credible.

My personal take:

More pay for personnel, better barracks conditions, upgrades to the decades old hardware? Great. Future opportunities for civilian logistical training that would help in the event of a war-like situation or disaster? Great.

Billions on shiny new toys be it the F35 or the Gripen? That's where I think there are way more cost effective ways to wage a war that would be asymmetrical, should one of the major powers (China, Russia or the US) try to engage in one with us. Some are necessary but the whole plan can't be rested on ribbon cutting for novelties at the expense of the basics.

Do we have the capability to convert our factories, refineries and shipyards to produce drones, autonomous vehicles, mines and short range missiles? Can we learn the lessons from Ukrainian commanders that clearly the current US top brass don't care to listen to? Can we build railway infrastructure that would be useful to mobilize tens of thousands of troops, so that one chokepoint bridge destroyed won't sever our national logistical network?

Focusing more on that will free up more room on the other end to make our lives better. The US Israel Iran war shows that spending endless coffers of money on the MIC doesn't guarantee victory.

We should be cicadas. Maybe 17 years from now the world won't suck.