*cover photo: Members of Operation NANOOK-NUNAKPUT visit the community center in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut on 27 August 2022. Credit: Corporal Parker Salustro, Canadian Armed Forces photo.
from the Globe and Mail
Between now and the next expected federal election in 2025, there will be much public debate on an array of issues. But what is also required, now more than ever, is a serious national discussion around Canada’s defence priorities and independent military capacity. The need for this debate stems from significant changes in the global balance of power, and the extent to which Canada’s security is affected by those changes.
Debates over whether Russian President Vladimir Putin can stay in power despite the struggles of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and whether he can be restrained either from within or by NATO’s allies on Russia’s borders, are interesting. But they fail to directly address Canada’s obligation to our own national defence or to the defence of our European allies. Regardless of what motivates Mr. Putin, his initiative reminds us that not having defensive depth and capacity is always the wrong answer.
Russia’s military invasion has underestimated the resilience and high quality of the Ukrainian Defence Forces and the common will of NATO allies, including Canada, to jointly provide for the financial, logistic and military materiel needs of Ukraine’s defenders. Small Canadian military contingents, as well as substantial U.S. and British force units, have been deployed to the NATO countries bordering Russia. But this is not enough...