Canadians are a smug lot. They brag about their vast land, their medical system and their peacekeeping. That smugness might just get Canada into pickle that it cannot get out of by being smug.
Canada is at war on two fronts.
First, there is the constant battle to identify, isolate and then eliminate terrorism both in Canada and abroad. Within the country, Canadian smugness fails to see and identify the home grown terrorists while Canada's ineptitude abroad serves to bolster terrorists' boldness. The good citizens of the United States of America once thought that their country was immune from outside attack. September 2001 put the lie to that premise. Now it is Canadians' turn to be smug and claim that because Canada is such a vast country and because its medical system is tops [not so, actually] and because Canada's military has provided service in just about every peacekeeping mission the United Nations has dreamt up, Canada is exempt from attack by terrorists, either home grown or foreign. For the socialists and liberals among the 32 million Canadians, their idea is that Canada is such a nice country nobody will want to inflict harm on the country. Such is a sad commentary on a country that at one time stood at the top of sensible countries. Four decades of liberalism/socialism under successive Liberal and Progressive Conservative federal governments have put finis to that. Today, Canada is in freefall with a definite hard landing not far off; unless, Canadians wake up and face reality. To do this, they must put pressure on Ottawa - regardless of which federal political party holds sway in Bytown - and insist that this country's intelligence agencies be given power to investigate and root out terrorist organisations. Then, if the terrorists are Canadian lock them up and if they are foreigners demand that the immigration department do what it has not done for decades, that is, turf the buggers out of the country pronto.
The second prong is for Canadians to insist that Canada's military be returned to its former status with sufficient personnel to get the job done using modern, state-of-the-art equipment. Rather than task Canada's soldiers, sailors and airmen [here those terms include females] to conduct operations using obsolete materiel and forcing the personnel to undergo too-fast-rotations abroad, Ottawa has to move quickly but correctly to correct the four or so decades of disdain that Ottawa has shown for Canada's military. Update, now!
In 1940, Canada and the United States of America signed a military agreement to preserve the security of both countries. The USA has upheld its end of the agreement whereas Canada has reneged, especially so during the Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin years as Canadian prime ministers. Of course, the seeds of destruction for both Canada and the Canadian armed forces were sown during Pierre Trudeau's time in Ottawa as Canada's 'lost cause' prime minister.
The USA takes its homeland security seriously. Americans have and continue to look askance at Canadians - especially Canada's politicians - who seem unable to understand that the security of the USA is not a trifling matter. The Americans are serious about their border security whereas Canadians seem not to be so concerned about the so-called longest undefended border in the world. Well, that so-called border might just become the longest defended border in the world. In order for that not to happen, Canada's government and Canadians in general have to take off the rose coloured glasses and see reality.
If the Americans become so ticked off with Canadians that they take unto themselves the protection of their homeland security, rest assured that Canada's sovereignty - the thing so many liberal/socialist Canadians bleat about time and time again - will surely be lost not to be regained.
Canadians who think that they can go on kicking sand in the face of the Americans are sadly mistaken. At some point, probably sooner than later, the Americans are going to take away the Canadians sand and rename it USA. Then all the whining and bleating and claiming Canada is a nice country peopled by lovely people with a medical system [again, not so great], a vast land with a history of peacekeeping, will fall on deaf ears. Nobody in the world will come to Canada's aid because for far too long Canada has shirked it sworn responsibilities and has lived off the generosity of the USA.
The time to act is now! Canadians must wake up and realise that terrorism is a reality both at home and abroad and that serious measures must be taken to combat it on both fronts. The time for platitudes and excuses is over; the time to act to protect what so many Canadians claim to hold dear is now!
Canadians must speak loudly and forcibly to their federal representatives - regardless of political flavour - and demand that Canada's military be strengthened with a large infusion of new equipment, properly thought out long-range plans and sufficient personnel to get the job done. The days of stretching the military to the breaking point while insisting that its members try to do their sworn duty with rusted out equipment is over. Act now or lose Canada!
Bob Orrick is a retired private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
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