Justin Trudeau now claims to be "extremely enthusiastic" about keeping bad old Russia in its place.

Trudeau was speaking, at the NATO Summit in Warsaw, about Canada’s new, recent and presumably long-term commitment to station troops in Latvia.

Canada will contribute 450 troops there and lead a battalion of 1,000 soldiers, maintain a warship in the neighbourhood and send up to six CF-18 fighter jets on occasional sorties.

All part of a broader NATO exercise to discourage Russian President Vladimir Putin from trespassing against any more neighbours, as he did by annexing Crimea from Ukraine two years ago.

But Canada’s agreement to send troops to Latvia only came well after other NATO allies made similar commitments to the region and only after being publicly shamed to do so by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Without naming Canada, Obama at the close of the Summit, also chided this country and others that continue to fail to meet a 2014 NATO commitment to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence.

“Everybody has got to step up,” Obama rightly said.

Canada, whose spending lags below 1%, is one of NATO’s worst offenders, ranking 23rd out of 28 member countries.

Trudeau responded by suggesting Canada can do more to help than simply spending money.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan was the other focus of the NATO Summit.

Canada announced plans to contribute $465 million over three years to help Afghanistan pay for troops and police officers and to “support women’s and girls’ rights and empowerment.”

In a clear shift of priorities, almost 60% of Canada’s $465 million commitment will go to aid programs.

In contrast, NATO allies agreed to fund Afghan forces at least until 2020 and collectively spend some $1 billion annually doing so.

Long term peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, NATO realizes, must be led by Afghans and a strong, sustainable Afghan security force.

Growing Taliban military and suicide attacks saw civilian casualties soar past 11,000 last year resulting in territorial gains across country.

Any social progress, especially for women and children, begins with a military answer to the Taliban.

If Trudeau actually wants Canada to play a useful role as a peacekeeping nation, it will require deeds, not words.

Latvia is a start. Meeting NATO’s spending commitments, the next step.