Links to the Breadcrumb trail
- News
Tristin Hopper: We had aircraft carriers, we had foreign bases and we didn’t call fully on our defense spending
Publication date:
June 10, 2022 • 7 hours ago • 3 minutes reading • 108 comments Photo by National Post Graphics
Content of the article
A new report from the parliamentary budget official found that if Canada wants to get closer to meeting its minimum commitments to NATO, we will have to spend at least $ 13 billion more on defense a year. Canada has neglected its military for more than a generation at this time, with the inevitable result that uniforms are worn out, obsolete ships are put into service until they catch fire, and allies are constantly focused on our case of being perpetually free.
Advertising 2
This ad is not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
But it wasn’t like that before. Watch the video “Everything should be better” or read the transcript below to find out when Canada has taken “guarding for you” seriously.
If you are Canadian, you are used to the idea that our military is not so good at things.
Our only supply ship caught fire, so we had to assemble a replacement for an old container ship. If our soldiers take part in a shooting competition, their World War II pistols block so badly that everyone has to share one.
MV Asterix, the only supply ship to the Royal Canadian Navy. He does the work, but we are not allowed to sail him in military zones. Photo by Andrew Vaughn / Canadian Press
But there was a time, not so long ago, when the Canadian military was not a dead shame.
And I’m not talking about world wars. Yes, we all know that Canada had the third largest fleet in the world at the end of World War II; this happens when you immerse most of the others.
Advertising 3
This ad is not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
I am talking about the beginning of the Cold War. Canada was a founding partner in NATO in 1949, and during the first 20 years of the alliance, this was something we actually took really seriously.
This is HMCS Bonaventure, one of the three aircraft carriers that Canada operated in the 1950s and 1960s. We had a naval station in Bermuda and five air bases in Europe: three in Germany, one in France and one in the United Kingdom. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Americans asked Canada to patrol their east coast so they could focus on the Caribbean.
Four European-based Canadian fighter jets fly over HMCS Bonaventure, a Canadian aircraft carrier, pictured in 1968. Photo by the Canadian Armed Forces
We also designed and built our own things. This is the Canadian-made CF-100 Canuck, which patrolled the Iron Curtain until 1981. And this is the Canadair Saber: it was good enough that we sold it to the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States.
Advertising 4
This ad is not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Even as countries around the world increase military spending as opposed to Russia, Canada still has one of NATO’s smallest defense budgets; even after some moderate increases in the military budget, we still spend only about 1.5 percent of GDP. But in the 1950s, the military budget was usually 4 percent of GDP or more. In 1970, you had more than 100,000 serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces. Today, Canada has 15 million more people, but regular forces have shrunk to 68,000.
In context, the United Kingdom pays around 2.2 percent. Photo from the office of the parliamentary budget officer
So what has changed? It is popular to blame Pierre Trudeau; although it has kept most of Canada’s Cold War infrastructure intact, it is gradually shrinking military spending as a share of GDP.
But that was in the 1990s, when things really went south. The Cold War ended just in time for Canada’s sovereign debt crisis. So while we were balancing the budget frantically, we decided that it would be good if a large part of our armed forces were kept together with bungee cords (literally, in some cases). And frankly, Conservative Stephen Harper was no different: he liked the military, but he liked fiscal restraint even more.
Advertising 5
This ad is not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Stephen Harper in the Arctic in 2010. It’s not a great sign when you’re doing a show of force in front of the cameras and it consists of a dinghy, a Coast Guard ship and three planes flying over. Photo by Sun Media
However, a strong army may be part of the reason the world actually listened to Canada sometimes. We never tire of romanticizing the time in 1956, when Prime Minister Lester Pearson proposed the use of peacekeepers to end the Suez Crisis. But Pearson was not just some stupid negotiator; he actually had a well-equipped army that was powerful enough to act as a deputy in a major conflict in the Middle East.
It turns out that world leaders are less likely to answer your calls when all you have are ideas of what their military could do because yours are too busy to catch fire.
Share this article on your social network
Advertising
This ad is not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
NP Published
Sign up to receive daily top stories from the National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
By clicking the register button, you agree to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300
Thank you for registering!
Email is welcome. If you don’t see it, please check your junk folder.
The next issue of NP Posted will be in your inbox soon.
There was a problem registering with you. Please, try again
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civic discussion forum and encourages all readers to share their views on our articles. It can take up to an hour to moderate comments before they appear on the site. Please keep your comments up to date and respectful. We have enabled email notifications – you will now receive an email if you receive a response to your comment, there is an update on the thread for comments you follow, or if a user you follow comments on a comment. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
Add Comment