National Post (National Edition)
Countering the Russian threat
Canada's efforts to help Ukraine are disappointing compared with what our major allies — the United States, United Kingdom, France and even Germany — have undertaken. The recent announcement that Canada had delivered four M777 howitzers to Ukraine was downright embarrassing.
Canadians pay high taxes and a chunk of that is supposed to be earmarked for national defence, as well as to pull our weight internationally. But it appears that over the years, most taxes have been spent by our Liberal government on pandemic supports, equalization payments to Quebec to keep the Bloc Québécois at bay and excessive benefits to buy votes during elections.
The fact that we can only afford four lousy howitzers to support an ally in a war of aggression raises another question: just what has our government done to protect our continental infrastructure, resources and the Arctic — priceless assets that could easily be Russia's next targets. The answer is: nothing.
Fortunately, in August, the U.S. stepped in and announced a plan to modernize Norad's surveillance capabilities in Canada's North. Britain also offered its assistance last year, saying it was prepared to conduct exercises and use its more advanced nuclear subs to help patrol the Arctic. Last month, it sent the HMS Prince of Wales along with 3,000 crew members to conduct the largest Arctic military exercise alongside its NATO allies since the end of the Cold War.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is timid, except in its dealings with a few dozen truckers who were double-parked in Ottawa. That episode is also embarrassing to Canadians, because it was a stupid overreach that was ridiculed by the media and people around the world.
By contrast, U.S. President Joe Biden is a leader who's aggressive, generous and strategically cunning. He's engineered financial sanctions that are crippling Russia, has given billions to the hapless Ukrainians and has strengthened the European alliance.
Without pressure from Washington, Trudeau and his inexperienced, unschooled cabinet would have done absolutely nothing for two reasons: they are hopelessly parochial and politically correct to a fault; and they have neglected our Armed Forces since gaining power in 2015. Canada's military has been hollowed out and neglected and our NATO commitments have been ignored. The result is that Canada has severely diminished its diplomatic and geopolitical standing.
Canada has become totally dependent on America's military and its economy. That wasn't always the case and doesn't have to be now. Canada could make an enormous difference by doing whatever it can to increase energy production, in order to help Europe permanently replace Russian energy.
The Americans are scrambling to meet this important objective, but Trudeau's environment minister is Steven Guilbeault, a former Greenpeace activist, and his government has done everything it can to maintain its economically devastating net-zero policies, even at the expense of our allies.
Canada is also an immigrant nation, but there hasn't been a sizable enough effort to welcome the huge numbers of Ukrainian refugees to our shores, despite the existence of a Slavic diaspora in this country that is enormous, well-heeled and capable of assimilating hundreds of thousands of migrants.
Canada also needs to do more to permanently root out all Russian interests operating here. Finally, Canada should work to remove Russia from the G20 and the World Trade Organization. It's time Canada pulled its weight, because we could be next on the hit list.
NEGLECTED OUR ARMED FORCES SINCE
GAINING POWER IN 2015.