A rchive Date
[ 12-06-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/clancy.html
Indefensible
Decline in our country's defences leaves us exposed and vulnerable
By ROY CLANCY - Calgary Sun
June 12, 2002
Canada's Armed Forces likely won't have trouble defending the 6.5-km restricted zone that will surround the G-8 Summit in the Kananaskis later this month.
Recent reports of troop deployments and pictures of fearsome-looking, ground- based missile launchers make it clear our military is ready for the worst.
When it comes to defending the hulking great land mass - almost 10 million square kilometres - that make up this country, the consensus is far less reassuring.
We're the weak sibling of developed nations - a country that has let its defences slide to the point where we're losing the respect of the world.
Even worse, obviously, we've placed our nation's sovereignty in jeopardy with our growing inability to back up our own interests.
Canada spends $265 US per capita on defence, less than half the NATO average of $589.
In a C.D. Howe study just released, eminent historian Jack Granatstein warns that Canadian sovereignty will become a mere memory if we don't halt the precipitous slide in the condition of our Armed Forces.
Evidence of this decline confronts us daily. Submarine lemons. Rusty helicopters. The chopping of Canada's NATO forces in the Balkans. The withdrawal of 800 exhausted ground troops from Afghanistan because we don't have enough military personnel to replace them.
Only 34% of Canadians polled believe our Forces possess the equipment needed to defend our country.
If we thought the shot fired across our bow on Sept. 11 has served as a wake-up call to our political leaders, we were dead wrong.
Despite some brave words after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Paul Martin's October budget failed to provide real funding increases for Canadian Forces, Granatstein writes.
He argues that Canada's underfunded military may already have cost us dearly.
"The Americans know we do not pull our weight ... and although policymakers usually deny the existence of linkage between ... issues, the lamentable condition of our Armed Forces may have something to do with our inability to get the Bush White House to take a positive interest in Canada's softwood lumber difficulties or U.S. attacks against our Wheat Board."
Granatstein points out that over the last several decades, Canada and the U.S. have become inextricably linked in terms of defence strategy.
One side of the debate argues that Canada should avoid combining its military and anti-terrorism efforts with the U.S. in order to safeguard our independence.
Granatstein suggests, convincingly, that the U.S. is deadly serious" about defending itself and will do whatever it believes necessary, regardless of the long-standing friendship between the two countries.
Only a role as a participant in the new campaign against terrorism will enable Canada to operate from a position of strength and influence.
While misguided "nationalists" call for a barrage of inflated rhetoric against our southern neighbour, this has all the influence of the little twerp who stands in the crowd watching a street fight making derisive comments about the combatants.
"Canada is a defence freeloader, and like spongers everywhere, we dislike those who carry the burden for us," Granatstein writes.
He isn't the only voice calling for a massive injection of spending into our defence budget. In March, a Senate committee recommended $4 billion more be spent on defence.
Last week, a Commons defence committee - dominated by Liberals - cast partisanship aside to state that our Forces are critically underfunded and need a massive infusion of spending.
"With a credible military, Canada would enhance its capacity to protect the citizens of North America and have a voice and options that weakness cannot provide," Granatstein writes.
When it comes to our shortcomings in protecting ourselves, it's hard to defend the indefensible, but that's exactly what our political leaders seem intent on doing.
The mounting neglect of our Armed Forces over past decades has been lamentable. With the new reality of the 21st century, ushered in by the horrors of 9/11, it is nothing short of tragic.
It's difficult to imagine what it will take, short of another attack, to convince them an immediate change in strategy is critical to our nation's well-being.
Letters to the editor should be sent to callet@sunpub.com. Clancy can be reached at 250-4235
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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