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Canada's Military Might Wither and Die
By
Bob Orrick
Canadians are an odd lot. On the one hand they cling to the idea that Canada is a sovereign country capable of determining its own destiny while on the other hand more and more they give up that control to others, most particularly, the United States of America. At some point, soon, Canadians must make up their minds as to what they want their country to be. To continue down the current laissez faire path is to signal the beginning of the end of Canada. I am sure that today's seniors, who fought tooth and nail and who survived the Great Depression, want to ride off into the sunset secure in the knowledge that the country they helped to forge against daunting odds, will remain viable and be a safe haven for their grandchildren and their grandchildren in turn. Perhaps it is already too late to turn this huge ship around and steer a course of sensibility and sovereignty.
One area where serious thought must be given, and quickly, is to Canada's military. The Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century recently released a report on Canada's military readiness. The report is blunt and points out rather clearly that "Canada is at risk of becoming unable to defend its territory and ceding sovereignty to the United States." I know that the meaning behind those words frightens me as it should all Canadians, particularly seniors. Clearly, Canadians have been led down the garden path by the incumbent Liberals in Ottawa and the garden is not a pleasant one; it is a mixture of incompetence, indifference, arrogance, political infighting and a 'could care less' attitude. The Liberal Party of Canada has not served Canadians well; one has to travel back to the days of Louis St. Laurent, "Uncle Louis," to find a Liberal prime minister who had an inkling of how to govern this vast country. His predecessor, William Lyon Mackenzie King, was always, it seems, two steps behind and running hard to catch up; however, he did have the sense to enlist the aid of an ex-pat American and Canada managed to survive World War Two on the homefront. Thanks to C.D. Howe this country's industrial contribution to victory was considerable. Today, in Ottawa, Canadians see none of that spirit; what they see instead is an undeclared race to replace a prime minister who has overstayed his time. What they see, also, is a military that is in decay.
While the Maritime Command - today's version of the Royal Canadian Navy - has thought long and hard and has come up with a sensible plan to see Canada's navy through to and beyond 2020, there is a growing fear that Ottawa will not loosen the purse strings and make the necessary funding available. A hint of that comes from John Manley, minister of finance who said recently that Ottawa does not have the two billion dollars a year deemed necessary to begin rebuilding Canada's military into a modern fighting force. Yet, the Liberals are touting the idea that the Trans Canada Highway be updated to four lanes as a legacy to retiring [February 2004] Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
For my money, and your money, I would rather have a modern military to protect Canada's sovereignty than a super highway to placate the ego of 'yesterday's man.' Perhaps, if the military loses out and the highway is built, we Canadians can use it to travel to our new national capital, Washington, DC.
The Council's review is available online at www.ccs21.org.
Bob is hoping that readers will take the time to think about his column to the extent that they may decide to send an email to syears@senioryears.com and comment, either positively or negatively about what they have read. We will display letters at Talking Back to Bob.
Bob Orrick is a 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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