As my colleague David Bercuson wrote here on Friday, Canada is rapidly falling behind Russia in its ability to effectively enforce claims to sovereignty over the Arctic. If anything, Bercuson was probably too polite. To call our military capability in a vast swath of our own territory token dangerously overstates our means.
Canada was able to get away with neglecting not just the Arctic but our national defence in general for many, many years. I’m afraid for so many years that it will be an impossible habit to break. But I am not the only one who has noticed. The United States is becoming increasingly frustrated with us. This matters.
It’s hardly breaking news that the Americans are certainly aware of Canada’s lacklustre commitment to defence. That’s been true as long as I’ve been alive. But the problem is becoming increasingly acute. The world was a safe enough place over the last 20 years that we could slack off, contributing meaningfully in Afghanistan, true, with such a small military that that contribution tapped us out. While our military was tied up in Kandahar, we could be reasonably confident we wouldn’t need it elsewhere. And if something flared up, the Americans would have our back.
But we can’t be nearly as confident that either of those assumptions hold as true today. As Bercuson noted in his column, the Russian military presence in the Arctic is growing rapidly. Their Arctic region is already more developed than ours, giving them inherent advantages compared to Canada, with our sparse populated North. Those advantages, combined with their military buildup, would leave Canada completely unable to enforce its sovereignty if Russia chose to cause problems for us. China, likewise, is developing its naval power, including Arctic capabilities. Meanwhile, we content ourselves with a few thousand lightly armed rangers, and took a bafflingly long time to even replace their rifles — the most fundamental piece of military equipment of all. Our Arctic patrol ships are not capable of year-round Arctic operations and are behind schedule anyways. Talk during the Harper years of building a proper military base in the Arctic is essentially forgotten.
[…]
See Also:
(1) Russia set to dominate the Arctic unless Canada acts quickly to address shipping concerns
Trudeau. Remember, somebody so stupid he thought he could bad mouth the POTUS after he had left the conference and would not be found out. This unaccomplished twit isn’t smart enough to know that Trump will give him the benefit of the doubt for what he claims, but only for the time being. Trudeau’s numbers will be fact checked and again he will have proven himself to be an empty vessel. A not to be trusted bullshit artist.
As an aside….a guy who poses in his chair looking like a little girl. My apologies to genuine little girls everywhere. Trudeau…always mindful to have one leg out stretched to ensure a good camera angle on socks he must have someone buy him at Spencer’s. Socks that most into their teens wouldn’t be caught dead wearing but perhaps as a result of years of inhaling chlorine vapers in Canmore hot tubs impress this 40+ year old to no end.
A big shout is in order to the GTA. An honourable mention to the Maritimes.
Trudeau’s big lie on military spending: Troops shortchanged, Trump deceived
https://www.therebel.media/trudeau_s_big_lie_on_military_spending_troops_shortchanged_trump_deceived
Re: the sidebar video and numerous newspaper articles. Trudeau caught on open mike bad mouthing the POTUS…. again! Listen to the fool. More juvenile trash talking the one person who isn’t there to defend themselves. Canada’s Prime Minister obviously doesn’t even know there must be a difference between a mindless conversation emanating from a cloud of marihuana smoke in a Canmore hot tub and with NATO leaders over cocktails in Washington, D.C. Between rying to impress the surely unimpressed Macron, Johnson and a couple of easily impressed one night stand snow bunnies. Trying to portray himself as Mr. Worldly. Mr. Mature. Mr. Sophisticated. Mr. Know it All. It should be that when you type ‘you can’t fix stupid’ on Wikipedia the first thing that should pop up is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau…
Yet ANOTHER huge shout out to the GTA. Yet ANOTHER honourable mention to our Maritime Provinces. Both of which should be addendums to that Wikipedia entry ‘you can’t fix stupid’…
…of course over cocktails in BP, London UK.
Way back in the ’60’s Canada’s total military strength of 100,000 was I remember even that was considered inadequate. Fast forward 4 decades and to a very different and in many ways more dangerous world and 60,000 is even a bridge too far according to our politicians. All parties. Canada has abdicating our own self defence (let alone international) responsibilities to our American cousins for too long. Strangely we’ve got a blank chequebook when it comes to the flood of mostly foreigners from 3td world shit hole Muslim countries. And that’s just one example. Don’t get me going on about the 30,000+homeless Canadians living every day, rain or shine, summer or winter in this country. I defy anyone to point out the 10’s let alone of 10’s of thousands of fake refugees let alone legitimate ones who live on our streets. Go for it. I challenge anyone to produce evidence. There needs to be a reckoning big time in this country. Priorities.