The Canadian Federal Government Needs To Wake Up!
Mark Rutte, the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands and new Secretary General of NATO is exactly the leader that the organization needs now. Intelligent, logical, rational and a man who believes profoundly in the value of education and the acquisition and analysis of information to extract knowledge.
Since taking over as Secretary General he has repeatedly called for NATO members to put their military forces on a ‘war footing’, irrespective of the outcome in Ukraine, which he wholeheartedly supports. While the economies of most NATO members is strained, due to the global economic downturn, he now openly suggests that spending 2% of GDP on defence is the base or floor for spending.
Recently the Secretary General stated to NATO members, “We are not ready for what is coming towards us in 4-5 years. Danger is moving towards us and we must face it…we must turbocharge our wartime production and defence spending…in 2023, we agreed to spend at least 2%. I can tell you, we are going to need a lot more than 2%.”
In 1960 Canada spent 4% of its GDP on defence as the Cold War was in full swing and the memory of Nazism was part of every Canadian adult. At the height of WWII, Canadian Defence expenditures were 8% of GDP, and few complained, even though Canadians sent 770,000 out of only 12 million people in the entire country, to war.
Today, Canadians have forgotten their history and both the commitment necessary in order to live in the most beautiful, truly democratic country on earth. At the same time, it is a stain on the memory of all those who fought for Canada and either died or were injured in its defence to not provide a credible deterrent force to face aggression, that is actively fighting democracy in Europe as I write this.
For those who are too comfortable, lazy, or unfit to serve Canada, and in turn, still too unwilling to spend what is necessary to preserve the rights and freedoms they enjoy, I say, then leave Canada. You have no right to enjoy those freedoms that you are neither willing to protect or to adequately fund.
The current Liberal Government’s Defence Paper entitled, “Our North, Strong and Free: A Renewed Vision for Canada’s Defence is unworthy of the men and women who serve. The Defence Minister, Bill Blair blows the horn of the Liberal Party, that will expend 1.76% of GDP by 2030. That is shameful in a world that is so obviously in a state of ever-increasing conflict, which as Mark Rutte, the Secretary General of NATO clearly articulates will require a lot more than 2% of GDP annually.
Canadians, especially the younger generations of military age, have become entitled, soft and unwilling to either serve or be willing to even pay what is required. If the current generation serve in the Canadian Armed Forces, it is more likely that will not have to go to war in order to defend the freedoms that they so heartily enjoy. Canada’s military right now cannot even acquire sufficient personnel to properly staff the Canadian Armed Forces, which has sunk to a combined manned strength of only 68,000 personnel.
In 1960 Canada had a military that contained a combined strength of 144,000 personnel, 104,000 of which were professional, full-time, from a national population of 17.9 million.
Today, with a population of 41.5 million people, Canada cannot attract enough personnel to adequately man 68,000 positions, with a force structure 20% under strength. Clearly, something needs to change. In 1955, Lt. General Guy Simonds, called for peacetime conscription. It is now time to reconsider the reintroduction of conscription.
Canada must create a military force capable of sustained military action against an aggressor. That requires strength in-depth for each of the services. Assuming that the Secretary General is correct, and a European war involving NATO occurs in 4-5 years, Canada would need to spend a minimum of 2.5% of GDP. Based on fiscal projection figures for 2026, Canada would need to spend $60 Billion dollars annually on defence.
While $60 Billion dollars annually sounds like an inordinate amount of money for the military, ask yourself, “How much is democracy, sovereignty and freedom worth? How much is NATO’s Article 5 worth, were Canada to need help for its protection in the far north, from an empire building Russia?
Canada needs more military personnel, more state-of-the-art weapons systems in the air, on land and at sea. In relation to sovereignty, there is no time to equivocate or dither. Under-ice capable submarines are essential to protect Canadian interests in the North, as well as at least two properly located military bases that combine both 12,000 foot concrete airfields for large C-117 transport aircraft and bases capable of housing a brigade of 5000 army and special forces personnel, as well as naval bases capable of mooring, supplying and refuelling under-ice fleet submarines and Canada’s new River Class naval combatant ships, – not simply unarmed Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels, though ice-capable ships they are not designed as combatants, but purely showing the flag in support of sovereignty operations.
Even if Canada does commit to 2.5% GDP for defence, that would not be an inordinate amount as that would still put Canada 11th in the World on military spending. The Canadian army would need to increase its full-time strength from 44,000 personnel to approximately 68,000 full-time personnel, therefore Conscription is likely the only means of meeting that required number of personnel.
A real shooting war in Europe can only be avoided through strength. In order to ensure Canada has both the capability and weapons systems necessary to defend NATO and Canadian interests by 2030, Canada must act.
Anything less is unworthy of this country.
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