NATO’s secretary-general has come out swinging in defence of the military alliance, and says Canada is playing a key role in helping to strengthen the 70-year-old organization thanks in part to its contributions to different missions. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Jens Stoltenberg lists Canada’s deployment of hundreds of troops to Latvia and Iraq, naval warships to NATO fleets and other assistance as critical to helping protect North America and Europe and strengthening the alliance’s transatlantic bond.