Calgary Herald - October 4, 2005
Ottawa Citizen - October 4, 2005
Kingston Whig-Standard - October 11, 2005
Windsor Star - October 17, 2005
By Colin Kenny
In the 38 years I have spent on Parliament Hill I have never seen more enthusiasm for turning Canada’s armed forces into what they should be: effective agents of change, devoted to preserving the security and general well-being of Canadians and improving the lot of downtrodden people around the world.
The Government of Canada has plans for that kind of military. Never have I seen a Prime Minister, Defence Minister, and Chief of the Defence Staff working in greater harmony, with greater concern, to transform our armed forces into a useful agent for advancing Canada’s interests internationally.
All three appear to recognize that Canada’s foreign policy options over the coming decades will be severely limited if Canada is not making a legitimate contribution to world stability, which it cannot do without a military that can pull its weight in the world and a foreign aid policy that has some lasting impact.
But our committee concluded in its recent unanimous report that there is only one thing missing: Money.
Oh, there is some money, more than there was a few years ago. There is enough to run a bare-bones military operation if just about every man, woman and piece of equipment connected to it is continuously stretched to the breaking point.
But there is not enough money to give Canadians what they need in terms of protection, nor to advance their interests internationally, nor to make a significant impact on the long-term futures of unstable societies that we are trying to help overseas.
Canadians should think of Canada’s military as an emergency tool box for the government to use to fix things at home and abroad that are of vital interest to Canadians. Every tool that is missing limits the government’s options to advance Canada’s interests in the world.
Look at the Army and you will find commanders scrambling to borrow parts, equipment and personnel from one another in order to mobilize.
Look at the Navy and you will find serious problems with every class of ship in the fleet, many of which were designed to fight yesterday’s wars.
Look at the Air Force and you will find a lack of airlift capacity to move troops quickly and efficiently to conflict zones or humanitarian relief efforts.
The Canadian Forces currently have 62,000 people in uniform. They need about 90,000 to ensure they have enough to perform the kind of onerous tasks that governments have been assigning them regularly for many years now.
Why are we falling short of people and equipment? It’s not rocket science. It’s money. Since 1990-1991, Canada’s spending on defence as a percentage of the country’s annual economic output has fallen by a precipitous 62.5 per cent.
Other responsible countries recognize the continued importance of investing in defence. Canadians are spending C$373 per capita on defence; Australians are spending C$688 per capita; the British are spending C$968 per capita.
True: this government has been less stingy than most of its predecessors in committing money to rehabilitated the Canadian Forces. This government has raised the pay of Canadian military personnel to a respectable level, and soldiers’ families who on some occasions were turning to food banks no longer need to.
True: this government has committed itself to investing $12.8 billion in fresh funds over the next five years in an attempt to redress nearly two decades of ruthless cost-cutting that brought the military to its knees.
And yes, I recognize that the government faces pressures from every quarter for more money. More money for health care. More money for universities. More money for the poorer provinces. More money for everyone.
Why spend money on defence when you could be spending it in so many other worthwhile priorities? Because without security, nothing else works. All our other programs depend on security.
Look around. What is the single biggest threat facing the world today? International instability. The agonizing years of the Cold War are starting to look positively stable and structured compared to the potential for chaos – far away, but also close at hand – that swirls around us today.
Yes, we Canadians have emerged largely unscathed. Like the people of Manhattan and Madrid and London were so happily unscathed so short a time ago. But bad things keep happening in this increasingly volatile world.
Some of those bad things are natural disasters, which are coming at us more frequently these days. New Orleans is a prime example, but nobody should forget the Saguenay floods in Quebec, the Ice Storm and blackout in Eastern Canada, the Red River Floods in Manitoba, the forest fires in British Columbia, and the Hurricane in Nova Scotia.
In times of man-made or natural disasters, no institution is so vital to survival than a military that can move quickly and efficiently to address a crisis.
The government has the right attitude, and the right vision. The defence blueprint laid out in Canada’s International Policy Statement last Spring could transform our military into a tremendous force for protection and development both in Canada and around the world.
But investing words isn’t the same as investing money. The 1994 Government White Paper on Defence was also an impressive blueprint, but it was written in disappearing ink. Most of its promises were never realized because the military started getting squeezed for funds – over and over again – right after it was published.
The government’s $12.8 billion funding infusion in the last budget was certainly a step in the right direction, but it was back-loaded over five years, meaning that most of the 8,000 new troops being planned for and a modest amount of equipment replacement won’t show up until about 2009-2010.
The Department of National Defence plans to spend about $14 billion this year; it should be spending at least twice that.
We are not investing enough in an insurance policy for Canadians at home, or in creating the just and stable world that Canadians want and need. We are leaving the moving and shaking to others, and shaking our heads when they get it wrong.
There are all kinds of new forces emerging in today’s world, both in terms of states (China and India are prime examples) and non-state entities, particularly extremist organizations.
The emerging states may turn out to be our allies; the extremist organizations obviously will not. But there is no question that these new forces will tilt the world, and Canada stands to get lost in the international shuffle if we don’t develop the instruments we need to advance our interests.
Canadians need to stay alert to new realities, and they need the tools to respond to emergencies at home and away. It is time to make an honest investment in putting our tool kit together.
Senator Colin Kenny is Chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence. He can be reached via email at kennyco@sen.parl.gc.ca