Canada's role in the future

Canada's military is, and has been for over a decade, in a state of
disarray. This is largely due to two facts. The first is the Trudeau
government, which preached quasi-socialist values and viewed the
Soviet Union not as an aggressor, but rather as the victim of American
agression. Trudeau managed to spit on the Army, Air Force, and Navy on
both sides of the border.

The second elements in Canada's dangerous decline is the Chretien
government. Chretien, like many politicos, believed the end of the
Cold War meant an end to hostilities: there would be no more battles.
Peacekeeping would be Canada's military's only role. One of Chretien's
first actions was to cancel the replacement of the Sea King helicopter
with the EH-101. Clearly, the helicopters were needed, and if the
order was not cancelled, Canadian forces would have new helicopters by
now rather than risking lives flying antique Sea Kings that cost more
money to maintain than they are worth.

Chretien sent us into many theaters, from Somalia, Haiti, the former
Yugoslavia, and lastly Afghanistan. Not only were are troops stretched
dangerously thin, they were sent into combat under equipped.

But there is also a larger societal power at play. For some reason in
the last 50 years, Canadians have begun to believe that their soldier
should be more social worker than hardened killer. Peacekeeping is a
noble enterprise, but it must be remembered that it requires the peace
to be kept. How effective was peacekeeping in Rwanda in 1994.

A Conservative government under Stephen Harper must revitalize not
only the numbers and equipment of the Canadian forces, but also
clearly state what we want out of our forces. Is it peacekeeping,
peacemaking, social work, etc. Of course, the role of our forces
should be to do what is in our country's national interest, something
they are currently incapable of doing. Soldiers must consider killing
their first task. Everything else is secondary.

The world is not a friendly place, and there is little prospect of it
becoming peaceful any time soon. Canada should live up to its global
role and enlarge its forces significantly.

JL