Canada needs a national televised debate on the state of our military and on foreign policy and national security issues.
The CDA Institute commends the recent announcements made by the Leader of the Opposition and all four Liberal Party leadership race candidates regarding their commitments to reaching NATO’s 2% of GDP defense spending target faster and for proposing original policies and strategies to achieve this. In our view, the 2% target should not be considered as the objective alone, but rather as a logical and expected outcome if Canada pursues a strategy to close the multiple capability gaps it currently faces and to ensure that the Canadian Armed Forces have the appropriate personnel strength, pay, equipment and training to meet its national and alliance obligations.
In recent election cycles, candidates have made few commitments to national security, foreign, and defense policy and debated them minimally. The false premise that the Canadian public did not care about these issues led politicians to avoid discussing them, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that relegated national security to the backburner and steadily eroded this key aspect of Canadian statehood.
The threats to Canada’s sovereignty and rules-based international order did not go away but grew during this time as the global security environment deteriorated.
Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine and illegal annexation of its territory, expanding violence across the Middle East, and the relentless hybrid warfare of China, are the most visible demonstrations of the dangerous trajectory of world events. However, other features of this growing instability, while less visible, are perhaps even more worrisome: accelerated nuclear stockpiling in China and its increasing belligerence and threats against democratic Taiwan and smaller nations in the region, a series of coup d’états in Africa, and larger human security issues in many parts of the world such as drought, crop failures, mass migration, poverty and violence caused by climate change, and the directly correlated increased navigability and power projection by strategic adversaries in Arctic waters.
The urgency to catch up to these threats is made all the more evident when considering that multiple Canadian Armed Forces platforms are reaching rust-out and that Canadian military personnel is short-staffed by about 17,000 people.
Achieving NATO’s 2% of GDP target for defense spending is not only about sharing the burden of defending the alliance, but it is also the minimum Canada must do to secure our nation and our national interests. As a nation, we must understand and convey the economic benefits and societal necessity of:
- Having a robust naval fleet composed of submarines, surface combatants, and other vessels capable of monitoring and protecting Canada’s three coasts and taking part in allied expeditionary missions;
- Having an Air Force capable of participating in both NATO and NORAD operations concurrently;
- Having a well-equipped Army with sufficient people and training to be ready for all possible missions required by the government, including being our nation’s last resort, when emergencies and catastrophes overwhelm civil authorities.
- Having the high-tech capabilities to defend Canada in space, cyberspace, and the information domain;
- Building and maintaining the infrastructure necessary to ensure the readiness and success of the Canadian Armed Forces at all times; and
- Fostering a dynamic and innovative defense industrial base in Canada supported by an explicit defense-industrial policy.
- Ensuring that CAF members and their families are well supported.
The growing consensus among most political parties in Canada that our nation must do more on defense is an essential first step in the right direction. We are also tracking the many different ideas and visions circulating within this larger consensus to improve Canada’s approach to national security and defense.
- The Bloc Quebecois has advocated for centralizing military procurement under the single authority of the Minister of Defence in the past to ensure greater accountability.
- The New Democratic Party’s Defence Critic, Lyndsay Mathyssen, recently stated, “New Democrats will keep fighting for renewed and ambitious investments in proper equipment, working conditions, housing, and childcare so our CAF members have the support they deserve.”
- In the Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre’s recent announcement about Arctic security, he proposed creating a permanent military base in Iqaluit, doubling the Rangers force to 4000 and purchasing two additional Polar Icebreakers complement the two on order for the Canadian Coast Guard.
- Liberal Party leadership candidates Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland have recommended repatriating greater defense industrial capacity inside our borders, and increasing the size of the CAF and increasing salaries, respectively.
All these propositions have great merit and deserve to be critically assessed and compared so that Canadians will be well informed of their feasibility, timelines, and impact.
That is why the CDA Institute is inviting all party leaders to participate in a televised debate that we offer to host during the next election period. The rules of engagement would be determined in cooperation with the parties ahead of time.
We look forward to contributing meaningfully to elevating the quality of discourse about Canada’s defense and national security at this critical time in our country’s history.