Canada right to send troops to Latvia

Viewpoint: Halifax Chronicle-Herald (edited) Justin Trudeau was smart enough to run an election campaign that stressed a more harmonious nation and a more peaceful planet.

But that doesn’t mean he’s naive enough to think Canada and its allies face no threats in a world in which Cold War tensions persist.

It’s no surprise, then, that the prime minister’s recent tour of Europe included visits to places steeped in violent history: Ukraine, a region of which (Crimea) was recently annexed by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin; Warsaw, the site of the murder or deportation of an estimated 300,000 Jews in 1942; and Auschwitz-Birkenau, home to the Nazi gas chambers and prison camp.

One Canadian pundit characterized the European tour as “an intense schooling in international security” for the prime minister. But we suspect Trudeau attended classes long before he left Canada.

Indeed, his visit was calculated to convince Canadians and our allies there is much more to the prime minister and his government than those “sunny ways.”

Thus Canada’s commitment to deploy as many as 450 troops to Latvia, as part of a new NATO brigade posted to Eastern Europe.

NATO officials insisted the world is not re-entering the Cold War.

But with Russia conducting regular, and massive, military exercises on the eastern flanks of NATO, Canada and its allies are right to respond.

Global Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion muddied the waters by suggesting it was “terribly unfortunate” that Canada decided to send forces to Latvia, when they were “much more needed” as peacemakers in Africa. But Dion’s choice is a false one.

Canada can and should take a balanced approach to the deployment of military personnel — making peace where it is possible, helping to avert hostilities when this is achievable and fighting wars when necessary.

And our nation will certainly not assuage tensions in Eastern Europe, or dissuade Russia from seizing more territory, by sending in peacekeeping forces.

Deploying Canadian troops to Riga is the right choice.