Canada: a nuisance neighbour

[onecat]

"We are not a big league country â “ not by any stretch; we never were â “ not even at the end of World War II when we ranked third or fourth or fifth in absolute combat power."

not to change the subject, but I have to totally disagree with you here.  After WW2, Canada was very much in the leagues, more so than France and to some degree the UK as well. We just decided not to stay there, and down sized very quickly to a medium power.  Its funny how teh government of day always seems to be a Liberal one.  It wasn't that Canada couldn't afford to stay where it was, it just didn't have the will.  Which is a big difference.  I feel its always been a matter of will that kept canada from punch at its weight.  It's also a liberal party thing too, but that's a different matter all together.

 

[S McKee]

PUBLICATION:  Calgary Herald
DATE:  2005.08.04
EDITION:  Final
SECTION:  News
PAGE:  A5
BYLINE:  Kate Gauntlett
SOURCE:  Calgary Herald
ILLUSTRATION: Colour Photo: Herald Archive, <Canadian> Press / <Canada'sfleet> of Hercules aircraft needs to be replaced, a new report claims. 

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Aging Hercs must go: study

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The <Canadian> Forces desperately needs to replace its aging Hercules aircraft fleet so soldiers can be deployed quickly and fulfil <Canada's> foreign policy objectives, said a study released Wednesday.

The Fraser Institute study comes less than a week after a new team of <Canadian> soldiers set foot in the perilous Kandahar region of Afghanistan, with hundreds more expected to be deployed there in the coming months.

"If <Canada> is to have a foreign policy worthy of the name, our Armed Forces require strategic lift," said Barry Cooper, the report's co-author and director of the institute's Alberta office.

"It (the current situation) is not laughable -- it's miserable."

Cooper said the bulk of <Canada's> CC-130 Hercules fleet is more than 35 years old.

"The Hercules are very robust and can be maintained. But then, the issue is the maintenance cost versus buying something that actually works and doesn't have to sit on the ground," he said.

The study rejects lease options and recommends air force needs will best be met by purchasing a mix of C-17 Globemaster III and C-130J Hercules aircraft.

A commitment to replace auxiliary oiler and replenishment ships was also welcomed, but the right mix of ships would depend on the future direction of <navy> operations, the study said.

Cooper warned that the costly transport overhaul has to coincide with a boost to troop numbers.

"If you increase the size of the troops without finding a way to get men and women into any theatre, then what's the point?" Cooper said, adding he was encouraged by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier's comments on both issues.

Earlier this year, Hillier outlined a plan to better equip the military, including adding 8,000 soldiers and buying new medium- to heavy-lift helicopters for the air force. However, he suggested leasing aircraft as a replacement for the Hercules.

This spring's federal budget promised $12.8 billion in new defence spending over five years.

Defence Department official Stephanie Godin said no one was available Wednesday to comment on the study.

 

[jmacleod]

The good Professor makes a number of valid points - he is after all, a Tenured Professor at MIT
-not a place for the weak of intellect. There is resentment in a very marginal sector in the US
about Canada and the Iraq War, but for the most part, most American's appear not to have
any opinions about Canada, whatever - it is not something discussed on the back porch of a
home in say, Champlain Illinois. There also is almost total lack of interest about Canada in the
European Union (EU) which has it's own (escalating) problems. Canada, because of Canadian
politics has become irrelevant is many western countries, and is considered a branch plant of
the United States - the GM Stryker was designed and manufactured in Canada by a US
company, which sold their resources to another American company, General Dynamics -now
referred to as "General Dynamics Canada" - but ultimately the cash goes in an American bank
MacLeod

 

[Glorified Ape]

So, if I understand the author correctly, by exercising our sovereign right to formulate and participate in treaties and international agreements we're compromising the US and should exercise our sovereign rights more effectively by basing them on what the US wants. We're supposed to, if I understand him correctly, formulate anything and everything that may have an impact on the US with their happiness as the central policy determinant.

All the while, our quid should be acceptably returned by their quo - characterized by him as "we were going to go ahead whether or not Canada agreed. No one much cared what Canada said or did." Gee, Harv, with that type of sentiment, how can we say no?! I would have expected slightly better than regurgitated Kissinger. From someone who's not supposed to be a right-wing extremist, he sure sounds like one - decrying "anti-Americanism" (read: not kowtowing to the US) while spewing his anti-Canadian tripe. No absurdity there, no sir.

 

[Jed]

So, Glorified Ape - I appreciate the amusing sarcasm wrt"Anti - Canadian / Anti American " comments. I just would like to point out that as you imply Canada does not wish to blindly follow the US process / doctrine / will of the people, but; to be a free and independent nation, capable of standing on our own, we must assume the costs in money and human resources. Basically, the Nation has to acknowledge the responsibility to meet its defense and projection of power and influence needs to be a relevant country. Or to be a good neighbor for that matter ?

 

[Glorified Ape]

So, Glorified Ape - I appreciate the amusing sarcasm wrt"Anti - Canadian / Anti American " comments. I just would like to point out that as you imply Canada does not wish to blindly follow the US process / doctrine / will of the people, but; to be a free and independent nation, capable of standing on our own, we must assume the costs in money and human resources. Basically, the Nation has to acknowledge the responsibility to meet its defense and projection of power and influence needs to be a relevant country. Or to be a good neighbor for that matter ?

I don't disagree that defense needs more attention and funding but to assert, as the author does, that Canada is a security threat because we enter into/formulate valid international agreements that the US may not like is ridiculous. If, as he seems to, he places such small importance in Canada and other countries' contribution to armed conflict, why is he so upset that our landmine treaty may endanger America's ability to bring, as he calls it "tag-alongs"? After all, we're all so irrelevant in the face of the glorious US, why should he care if little old Canada indirectly complicates America's ability to recruit other irrelevant countries who, in all likelihood, will need a ride just like we do (a fact that appears to annoy him). He wants us to help, but our help is inferior; he doesn't want us to complicate ally recruitment, but the allies are all overwhelmingly (in his mind) tag-along freeloaders. By his logic, we're doing him a favour - fewer allies providing insignificant aid, for whom the US would need to provide transportation.

EDIT: On top of that, he wants US troops to be unfettered by pesky war crimes/crimes against humanity investigations while they trapse about trying to capture people to charge with such offences. In other words - everyone else should be subject to law but the US; excepting that it's the US charging its own people - the outcome of which we saw quite clearly with the slap on the wrist received by the National Guard pilot who killed four of our troops. I don't recall the US being opposed to war/humanity crimes tribunals after WWII... in fact, if I recall correctly, they were leading the way. Apparently what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander.

That's some fancy MIT thinking he's got there.