Liberals will hurt military

Dear Editor: U.S. President Donald Trump said what had to be said: Canada has not pulled its military weight since 1968.

At the end of the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Navy was the fourth largest navy; the Royal Canadian Air Force was the third largest air force. The Canadian Army had six full divisions, small numbers by world standards — but very effective.

During the NATO troop commitment to the alliance in Western Europe after the Korean War, Canada committed a heavy brigade stationed in West Germany, an RCAF Air Division stationed in West Germany and France. The RCN provided destroyer squadrons plus an aircraft carrier — one of the best in all NATO navies.

Canadian troops were an allvolunteer force; we were surrounded by a sea of conscripted militaries.

We served from the mid-1950s to 1968; when Pierre Elliott Trudeau appeared out of the blue. Trudeau soon destroyed our wonderful reputation.

By the time Trudeau arrived, I had completed two NATO tours with the brigade in West Germany, going overseas in 1961 as part of the brigade’s expansion due to the Berlin Wall crisis.

Canada was the only nation that did not suffer major war damage in the Second World War: We could have and should have committed more than we did. Where we had a brigade we should have had a division; where we had an air division we should have a group; where we had a destroyer force, we should have had a fleet.

In 1968, Trudeau, by unifying the Canadian Armed Forces,