Being
Realistic About National Security
Canada belongs to international organizations such as the NATO Alliance
and the United Nations for two very important reasons. One, our country
is too vast and our population is too sparse for us to be able to defend
ourselves. Two, being a trading nation, we have a direct interest in ensuring
a stable world order. However, for far too long we have been willing to
let others – our NATO partners, and especially the United States –
shoulder most of the responsibility for collective security. We have not
been pulling our weight in this regard. Not only does this lessen our influence
when we wish to let our voice be heard in such bodies, it is also fundamentally
irresponsible and immoral. A free and sovereign nation should pay for its
own defence and its contribution to collective security.
Professor Douglas Bland, in this clip from A
Question of Honour, notes the interrelationship between defence preparedness
and foreign policy objectives.
We cannot wait for a crisis before we address our defence shortcomings.
This has to be done well beforehand, so that we will be in a position
to respond. Wishful thinking is not a policy.
What are your views on these issues? Express them in the discussion
forums.
Tying it Together
The last section of Oh Canada! Where Is My Country Going?
brings both themes of The underground royal commission
Report – the country’s finances and our defence policy –
back to the doors of Parliament. We examine the accountability
gap in our governing institutions.
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