It’s time for Canadians to wake up and smell the maple leaves.
The events of Sept. 11 have revitalized the value of military might and while 9-11 has sent the U.S. into a frenzied defence buildup, Canada has more or less decided to sit on the sidelines.
For example, the U.S government requested Canada’s help with ballistic missile defence and former prime minister Paul Martin said “no” to pretty much everything – “no” to allocating funds to missile defence, “no” to allowing interceptors on Canadian soil, and “no” to positioning weapons in outer space. All this in the name of peace and national sovereignty.
But how sovereign will Canada feel when our government isn’t aware of what’s going on in our very own airspace? More frighteningly, if Canada is willing to let another state assume responsibilities over our security then who knows what other national duties will soon be left in the hands of foreigners
It’s high time that the Canadian government step up to the plate in the game of international politics and increase its contribution to continental defence. This country’s sovereignty is at stake and if Canada has any hope of being taken seriously by the global community, newly elected Prime Minister Stephen Harper must tackle the issue of ballistic missile defence.
With the renewal of the bilateral North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) this May, Harper has the chance to give Canada a more credible and less hypocritical international voice.
Some argue that Canada has no need to be perceived as anything more that what Ottawa author Andrew Cohen calls a “toy army with a sack of grain.” But this simply cannot be enough for a country that claims to stand for peace and diplomacy.
Until the mid-1980s, peacekeeping missions dominated the Canadian defence agenda and Canada was respected for serving as an “honest broker.” But that was all during theCold War.
This country used to be the world’s top boy scout. But now, as former foreign affairs minister John Manley recently observed, Canada is “trading on a reputation that was built two or more generations ago.”
Moreover, Canadians appear to be suffering from a moral-superiority complex, truly believing that we are dove-like and peace-loving simply because our policy-makers have taken some sort of ethical high-ground when it comes to issues like the War on Terror. Not so.
Increasingly, Canada’s approach to international security seems less determined by our values and moreso by our limited defence capabilities.
But who could expect anything different when Canada has cut defence spending by some $29 billion over the past decade alone? The infamous saga of the Sea King helicopters and the decaying Hercules aircraft are but two examples of the decline of Canada’s military.
The result? A military forced to shop for peacekeeping missions that fit our defence budget and a bilateral continental defence partner who’s been left to pick up our tab.
When it comes to NORAD, Canada has paid a meagre portion of capital costs on Canadian soil and absolutely nothing for the infrastructure on American territory.
But the current government has the opportunity to take Canadian defence policy off life-support by removing the American feeding tube. Harper must start by reviewing Canada’s position on ballistic missile defence and agree to work bilaterally with the U.S to defend the continent.
The Canadian government needs to start putting its money where its mouth is and, to paraphrase what political scientist Nils Orvik once wrote, Canada must pay its way to have its way.