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Justin Trudeau hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

Justin Trudeau hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

Canada says it will look at increasing its defence spending and tacked on 10 more Russian names to an ever growing sanctions list.

By Tonda MacCharles
Ottawa Bureau
Mon., March 7, 2022

Riga, LATVIA—On the 13th day of the brutal Russian bid to claim Ukraine as its own, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is showing up at the Latvian battle group led by Canadian soldiers, waving the Maple Leaf and a vague hint at more money for the military.

Canada has been waving the NATO flag for nearly seven years in Latvia as a bulwark against Russia’s further incursions in Eastern Europe.

Canada stepped up to lead one of NATO’s four battle groups in 2015 — part of the defensive alliance’s display of strength and solidarity with weaker member states after Russia invaded Ukraine and seized the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Trudeau arrived in the Latvian capital late Monday after meetings in the U.K. with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Earlier Monday, faced with a seemingly unstoppable war in Ukraine, Trudeau said he will look at increasing Canada’s defence spending. Given world events, he said there are “certainly reflections to have.”

And Canada tacked on 10 more Russian names to an ever-growing sanctions list.

The latest round of sanctions includes names Trudeau said were identified by jailed Russian opposition leader and Putin nemesis Alexei Navalny.

However, on a day when Trudeau cited the new sanctions, and Johnson touted new measures meant to expose Russian property owners in his country, Rutte admitted sanctions are not working.

Yet they all called for more concerted international efforts over the long haul, including more economic measures and more humanitarian aid, with Johnson and Rutte divided over how quickly countries need to get off Russian oil and gas.

The 10 latest names on Canada’s target list do not include Roman Abramovich — a Russian billionaire Navalny has been flagging to Canada since at least 2017. Canada appears to have sanctioned about 20 of the 35 names on Navalny’s list.

The Conservative opposition says the Liberal government is not yet exerting maximum pressure on Putin, and should do more to bolster Canadian Forces, including by finally approving the purchase of fighter jets.

Foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said in an interview that Ottawa must still sanction “additional oligarchs close to President Putin who have significant assets in Canada.”

Abramovich owns more than a quarter of the public shares in steelmaking giant Evraz, which has operations in Alberta and Saskatchewan and has supplied most of the steel for the government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline project.

Evraz’s board of directors also includes two more Russians the U.S. government identified as “oligarchs” in 2019 — Aleksandr Abramov and Aleksandr Frolov — and its Canadian operations have received significant support from the federal government.

That includes at least $27 million in emergency wage subsidies during the pandemic, as well as $7 million through a fund meant to help heavy-polluters reduce emissions that cause climate change, according to the company’s most recent annual report.

In addition to upping defence spending, the Conservatives want NORAD’s early warning system upgraded, naval shipbuilding ramped up and Arctic security bolstered.

In London, Johnson sat down with Trudeau and Rutte at the Northolt airbase. Their morning meetings had a rushed feel, with Johnson starting to usher press out before Trudeau spoke. His office said later that the British PM couldn’t squeeze the full meeting in at 10 Downing Street because Johnson’s “diary” was so busy that day. The three leaders held an afternoon news conference at 10 Downing.

But before that Trudeau met with the Queen, saying she was “insightful” and they had a “useful, for me anyway, conversation about global affairs.”

Trudeau meets with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Tuesday in Latvia.

The prime minister will also meet with three Baltic leaders, the prime ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, in the Latvian capital of Riga.

The Liberals announced they would increase the 500 Canadian Forces in Latvia by another 460 troops. The Canadians are leading a multinational battle group, one of four that are part of NATO’s deployments in the region.

Another 3,400 Canadians could be deployed to the region in the months to come, on standby for NATO orders.

But Canada’s shipments of lethal aid to Ukraine were slow to come in the view of the Conservatives, and the Ukrainian Canadian community.

And suddenly Western allies are eyeing each other’s defence commitments.

At the Downing Street news conference, Rutte noted the Netherlands will increase its defence budget to close to two per cent of GDP. Germany has led the G7, and doubled its defence budget in the face of Putin’s invasion and threats. Johnson said the U.K. defence spending is about 2.4 per cent and declined to comment on Canada’s defence spending which is 1.4 per cent of GDP.

But Johnson didn’t hold back.

“What we can’t do, post the invasion of Ukraine is assume that we go back to a kind of status quo ante, a kind of new normalization in the way that we did after the … seizure of Crimea and the Donbas area,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to recognize that things have changed and that we need a new focus on security and I think that that is kind of increasingly understood by everybody.”

Trudeau stood by his British and Dutch counterparts and pledged Canada would do more.

He defended his government’s record, saying Ottawa is gradually increasing spending over the next decade by 70 per cent. Then Trudeau admitted more might be necessary.

“We also recognize that context is changing rapidly around the world and we need to make sure that women and men have certainty and our forces have all the equipment necessary to be able to stand strongly as we always have. As members of NATO. We will continue to look at what more we can do.”

The three leaders — Johnson, a conservative and Trudeau and Rutte, progressive liberals — in a joint statement said they “will continue to impose severe costs on Russia.”

Arriving for the news conference from Windsor Castle, Trudeau had to detour to enter Downing Street as loud so-called Freedom Convoy protesters bellowed from outside the gate. They carried signs marked “Tuck Frudeau” and “Free Tamara” (Lich).

Protester Jeff Wyatt who said he has no Canadian ties told the Star he came to stand up for Lich and others who were leading a “peaceful protest” worldwide against government “lies” about COVID-19 and what he called Trudeau’s “tyranny.”

Elsewhere in London, outside the Russian embassy, other protesters and passersby reflected on what they said was real tyranny — the Russian attack on Ukraine. “I think we should be as tough as possible to get this stopped, as tough as possible,” said protester Clive Martinez.
 
I couldn't care less. I someone has a profession we need, and they want to come here and become a productive citizen, then I'm all for it.
Although I've raised the question about what happens in the countries losing people, I agree with this idea: if we decide to have immigrants, with or without a "points" scheme, it's not really given to us to stand in the way of any particular person trying to better himself.
 
I'm asking you why we don't just ignore each other.

I'm trying to figure out what you meant by your post on the draft, do you think it's good, or bad ect; and now you want us to ignore eachother? I thought this was a discussion forum.

Doesn't seem like a fitting response for a DS and mentor member. In the spirit of actioning your request; as member in those roles is there a way I can put you on ignore to avoid future interactions ?

If not, as long as one is respectful, I don't see why one can't engage you on your posts.
 
Although I've raised the question about what happens in the countries losing people, I agree with this idea: if we decide to have immigrants, with or without a "points" scheme, it's not really given to us to stand in the way of any particular person trying to better himself.

Agreed.
 

I'm trying to figure out what you meant by your post on the draft, do you think it's good, or bad ect; and now you want us to ignore eachother? I thought this was a discussion forum.

Doesn't seem like a fitting response for a DS and mentor member. In the spirit of actioning your request; as member in those roles is there a way I can put you on ignore to avoid future interactions ?

If not, as long as one is respectful, I don't see why one can't engage you on your posts.

Understood. Thank you for your input.
 
I just read a story on CBC https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/norad-canadian-armed-forces-arctic-russia-1.6702611

Would Canada even know if X country landed troops or aircraft or tourists on some remote Arctic Island?
If the answer is Yes , How long would it take our Forces or People to respond, in case of aircraft accident? Actual armed troops? Tourists?

Does Canada invest the money to monitor the North? Does it invest the funds to station troops in the North? Permanent posting or Rotating units? ( the Arctic Archipelago consists of 94 major islands (greater than 130 km2) and 36,469 minor islands covering a total of 1.4 million km2.)
How would we even plan to protect or monitor that much space without huge investments in Monitoring Aircraft, Heavy Ice breakers, helicopters that can fly in the Arctic in year round weather conditions, troops and support bases.

I lived there for a winter and the requirements to move a patient from one settlement to a main hospital took hours, and air ambulances ( lear type jets from Montreal to Iqaluit and then to the settlement and back to Montreal took hours) It is a big space on the map, and looks even bigger if you never been there.

Every government has said they are doing something but nothing happens
 
Would Canada even know if X country landed troops or aircraft or tourists on some remote Arctic Island?
If the answer is Yes , How long would it take our Forces or People to respond, in case of aircraft accident? Actual armed troops? Tourists?
Some say ‘no.’

PIN-3 Lady Franklin Point for some supports a theme of ‘would we know if an adversary destroyed some of our capability?’
 
With modern day cruise ships wanting to visit the North and some visiting already. If there was an accident, we are looking at hours, if not days to reach anyone because of weather and distance. Forget an armed invasion (that would never happen ;-) ) but a rescue mission. 1991 Boxtop flight rescue took 32 hours before a SAR Tech was dropped due to weather, 21 hours for a ground team team to reach them. Equipment had to come from Trenton, Edmonton, and Greenwood. Time and weather delays will kill people. Is it time they take the Arctic Regional ( makes up 1/3 of Canada ) they take it more serious or just keep it status as it is now, once a a year exercise and photo ops?
 
With modern day cruise ships wanting to visit the North and some visiting already. If there was an accident, we are looking at hours, if not days to reach anyone because of weather and distance. Forget an armed invasion (that would never happen ;-) ) but a rescue mission. 1991 Boxtop flight rescue took 32 hours before a SAR Tech was dropped due to weather, 21 hours for a ground team team to reach them. Equipment had to come from Trenton, Edmonton, and Greenwood. Time and weather delays will kill people. Is it time they take the Arctic Regional ( makes up 1/3 of Canada ) they take it more serious or just keep it status as it is now, once a a year exercise and photo ops?

We table topped this exact scenario when I was my previous staff job. I coordinated the sourcing and moving of pers and material for deployed Naval ops.

We played the worst case scenario, uninhabited fiord on the north east coast of Canada. It was actually discussed to drop in a jump company as getting there is going to take a long time. And they can provide medical and security, predation is a thing up there, and set up to receive air drops until we can get resources on scene.
 
We table topped this exact scenario when I was my previous staff job. I coordinated the sourcing and moving of pers and material for deployed Naval ops.

We played the worst case scenario, uninhabited fiord on the north east coast of Canada. It was actually discussed to drop in a jump company as getting there is going to take a long time. And they can provide medical and security, predation is a thing up there, and set up to receive air drops until we can get resources on scene.

Any plans for casevac of half the jump company following the parachute insertion?

Just wondering ;)
 
, in case of aircraft accident? Actual armed troops? Tourists?
this one I can answer. 2 hours to launch out of Winnipeg with as many SARTechs as you can get in that time, you can get most places in the arctic within 5 hours. Trenton has a MAJAID kit that’s supposed to launch within 24 hours with more STs and some generic jumpers for GDs. The much, much bigger problem are the huge cruise ships going through there with 3-5000 people.
 
Any plans for casevac of half the jump company following the parachute insertion?

Just wondering ;)

Lots of thoughts and prayers I'm certain 🤣

Inglourious Basterds Bingo GIF


this one I can answer. 2 hours to launch out of Winnipeg with as many SARTechs as you can get in that time, you can get most places in the arctic within 5 hours. Trenton has a MAJAID kit that’s supposed to launch within 24 hours with more STs and some generic jumpers for GDs. The much, much bigger problem are the huge cruise ships going through there with 3-5000 people.
There are contingencies for MAJAID in the North. I don't think they are particularly good but it is what it is....
 
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