Somewhere along the line, Canadians decided their independence was something they had by right, not something that was fought and paid for at a very dear cost.
This is so on the mark. And much as many people may not want to acknowledge it, governments both liberal and conservative have done their best to hasten the decline of our ability to defend ourselves and our borders .
One of my brothers was in the army in the early 1970s, and even then our military was very poorly equipped with never enough people to do the job. Another brother was in the Navy in the 1980s and said that whenever the ship he was on went to a foreign port where the US Navy was also present, it was very obvious that our equipment was quite outdated. Another brother was in the Air force until a few years ago and while he enjoyed his time in the military, he felt that the armed forces were always challenged by first of all not enough cash, and second a horrible process for acquiring new equipment.
So the writer is correct that the decline has been going on for many years and it still hasn't stopped. And unfortunately our current Prime Minister has had no interest in building an armed force that can actually contribute because he is too busy virtue signaling and giving moral lectures to leaders throughout the world.
Much as I don't like Donald Trump and his approach to "diplomacy", this may be the only way that Canada and other nations who have neglected their responsibility to look after their defense and their borders will finally be forced to make the right decisions and spend some money on their arm forces and border controls.
Great point. The nadir of defence funding was under Harper. That’s not to say that the Conservative party is uniquely bad on defence, but rather that they’ve been no better: that *both* main parties have been able to pursue other priorities by assuming that the world is no longer a dangerous place (and if it is, the Americans will protect us).
I haven’t seen any strong statements from Pierre Poilievre OR Mark Carney about spending 3-5% of GDP on defence and what would be cut to pay for it.
Every politician in the land knows that Canadian voters punish those who demand Canadians become more accountable for their own lives, From Prentice's "look in the mirror" moment to Atlantic Canada thumping on the Liberals in the late 90s for cutting programs Canada just couldn't afford anymore.
Without consequences hitting every citizen for avoiding making hard decisions it will just go on. Even then it is debatable that people will accept change until they must.
The underlying culture of Canada needs to be addressed, not just a change of leadership.
I wonder if Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be applied to a country. Until a country has satisfied its security needs, it should not be looking further up the hierarchy.
We thought that our security needs were looked after, mostly by the Americans, of course, and that the world was not a dangerous place. So, we have expanded programs that are higher up the hierarchy, such as expanded medical care, dental care, and so on.
We are finding, over the last four or so years, that that level in the hierarchy has been yanked (pardon the pun) out from under us. It will cost Canada real money to re-establish the required level of security. Until we do that, we need to carefully and dispassionately examine the cost of programs further up the hierarchy.
I think that Canada, as a country, has yet to realise that. Many individuals have realised that, but the governing consensus is not there yet.
I've often wondered this as well. While Canadians sit here arguing about how to decorate the attic, (and sometimes bragging on social media how our attic is morally superior to the USA's) the foundations seem to be crumbling or at least badly cracking. I think part of the problem is that it isn't very glamorous, politically, to say 'hey we need to fix some basic stuff that will keep you all safe and sound, but you won't see how essential and beneficial that was until X years down the road.'
You correctly assign the primary blame to the elder Trudeau. Most younger folks have no idea what he actually did to the nation. Some good but mostly bad. As we see it now from a bit of a distance. His best effort was the Charter but it was so focussed on rights for individuals that focus is now impinging on those same rights thanks to the lack of connection in this document with collective responsibilities. That would include many of the aspects we have simply thrown away — such as security and defence standards as well as the factual truth of own remarkable history vice an intentional denigration of same on the basis that indigenous progress cannot be made without destroying the dominant culture. The damage continued after 1984 albeit with some high points — but always on a general downward slope. No wonder we have Cdn citizens who think Trump’s offer of statehood would be a great idea.
The Charter has done a lot of good for a lot of people. Section 1 is not used so commonly or egregiously that it's fair to suggest the Charter provides no rights.
The Charter basically allows judges to have a veto over everything that matters in Canada. Heck, it looks like they are even going after the nonwithstanding clause, which was included at the behest of Alberta to reign in a potential philosopher king dictatorship.
Blending US style jurisprudence with UK style common law and Parliamentary democracy was a bad idea
Well said Andrew. Thank you for the history lesson. The Ogdensburg meeting is something that I was not aware of. Now let's build some ice strengthened nuclear submarines along with some Arctic military bases. (along with oil and gas pipelines to the coasts)
I am starting to like the fact that Canadian are finally starting to take this country seriously. We were becoming too smug and complacent about our Independence and democracy. We still have that unseriousness in Ottawa but any grassroots movement can fix that. We need to sustain this introspection so that we see lasting change in this country.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. You Sir must be listening into the conversations my husband and I have been having for years. We deserve what we get.
All I hear from the Feds is more bail out packages if the US puts tariffs on Canadian products - NO, not a dime to anyone to is to be affected! Billions literally disappeared in Covid relief and Billions more will vanish to Liberal friends again! If you are going to spend, buy real stuff to defend Canada and build some pipelines too - stop handing cash to the government’s “friends” and calling it support of Canadians!!!!!!!
It's amazing to me how much of the decline in our "projected influence" seems to begin with the unification of Canada's military in 1968 by then Minister of Defence Paul Hellyer.
"Meanwhile, while our traditional soft-power conceits (“honest broker,” “helpful fixer,” “great convenor”) were themselves replaced by a bathetic series of after-school special morality plays put on by an Instagram account masquerading as a G7 government. "
(insert standing ovation gif here)
Back in the early Sunny Ways days, one of the Chretien era MPs still hanging around said of the Trudeaupeans "these are very unserious people in very serious roles".
This is so on the mark. And much as many people may not want to acknowledge it, governments both liberal and conservative have done their best to hasten the decline of our ability to defend ourselves and our borders .
One of my brothers was in the army in the early 1970s, and even then our military was very poorly equipped with never enough people to do the job. Another brother was in the Navy in the 1980s and said that whenever the ship he was on went to a foreign port where the US Navy was also present, it was very obvious that our equipment was quite outdated. Another brother was in the Air force until a few years ago and while he enjoyed his time in the military, he felt that the armed forces were always challenged by first of all not enough cash, and second a horrible process for acquiring new equipment.
So the writer is correct that the decline has been going on for many years and it still hasn't stopped. And unfortunately our current Prime Minister has had no interest in building an armed force that can actually contribute because he is too busy virtue signaling and giving moral lectures to leaders throughout the world.
Much as I don't like Donald Trump and his approach to "diplomacy", this may be the only way that Canada and other nations who have neglected their responsibility to look after their defense and their borders will finally be forced to make the right decisions and spend some money on their arm forces and border controls.
What a great article! And very timely too.
Great point. The nadir of defence funding was under Harper. That’s not to say that the Conservative party is uniquely bad on defence, but rather that they’ve been no better: that *both* main parties have been able to pursue other priorities by assuming that the world is no longer a dangerous place (and if it is, the Americans will protect us).
I haven’t seen any strong statements from Pierre Poilievre OR Mark Carney about spending 3-5% of GDP on defence and what would be cut to pay for it.
Every politician in the land knows that Canadian voters punish those who demand Canadians become more accountable for their own lives, From Prentice's "look in the mirror" moment to Atlantic Canada thumping on the Liberals in the late 90s for cutting programs Canada just couldn't afford anymore.
Without consequences hitting every citizen for avoiding making hard decisions it will just go on. Even then it is debatable that people will accept change until they must.
The underlying culture of Canada needs to be addressed, not just a change of leadership.
Excellent. How did we allow the apologies for our history? And the attempt to erase it?
Let's start by putting the statues back up!
As soon as the statues are back up let's review what is taught about Canadian history in our schools
Reg, I respectfully think that you have that backwards. Teach that history and the buy in on the statues is likely to increase.
You are absolutely right Ken.
This might be your best work at The Line so far, Andrew. Exceptionally cogent and well-written.
I wonder if Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be applied to a country. Until a country has satisfied its security needs, it should not be looking further up the hierarchy.
We thought that our security needs were looked after, mostly by the Americans, of course, and that the world was not a dangerous place. So, we have expanded programs that are higher up the hierarchy, such as expanded medical care, dental care, and so on.
We are finding, over the last four or so years, that that level in the hierarchy has been yanked (pardon the pun) out from under us. It will cost Canada real money to re-establish the required level of security. Until we do that, we need to carefully and dispassionately examine the cost of programs further up the hierarchy.
I think that Canada, as a country, has yet to realise that. Many individuals have realised that, but the governing consensus is not there yet.
I've often wondered this as well. While Canadians sit here arguing about how to decorate the attic, (and sometimes bragging on social media how our attic is morally superior to the USA's) the foundations seem to be crumbling or at least badly cracking. I think part of the problem is that it isn't very glamorous, politically, to say 'hey we need to fix some basic stuff that will keep you all safe and sound, but you won't see how essential and beneficial that was until X years down the road.'
You correctly assign the primary blame to the elder Trudeau. Most younger folks have no idea what he actually did to the nation. Some good but mostly bad. As we see it now from a bit of a distance. His best effort was the Charter but it was so focussed on rights for individuals that focus is now impinging on those same rights thanks to the lack of connection in this document with collective responsibilities. That would include many of the aspects we have simply thrown away — such as security and defence standards as well as the factual truth of own remarkable history vice an intentional denigration of same on the basis that indigenous progress cannot be made without destroying the dominant culture. The damage continued after 1984 albeit with some high points — but always on a general downward slope. No wonder we have Cdn citizens who think Trump’s offer of statehood would be a great idea.
So much of what we see today in many countries is directly traceable to 1965-1970.
The Charter has done a lot of good for a lot of people. Section 1 is not used so commonly or egregiously that it's fair to suggest the Charter provides no rights.
The Charter basically allows judges to have a veto over everything that matters in Canada. Heck, it looks like they are even going after the nonwithstanding clause, which was included at the behest of Alberta to reign in a potential philosopher king dictatorship.
Blending US style jurisprudence with UK style common law and Parliamentary democracy was a bad idea
Well said Andrew. Thank you for the history lesson. The Ogdensburg meeting is something that I was not aware of. Now let's build some ice strengthened nuclear submarines along with some Arctic military bases. (along with oil and gas pipelines to the coasts)
I didn’t want to agree with Potter, but I do.
I have no qualms one way or another about agreeing with Potter, but I do.
I am starting to like the fact that Canadian are finally starting to take this country seriously. We were becoming too smug and complacent about our Independence and democracy. We still have that unseriousness in Ottawa but any grassroots movement can fix that. We need to sustain this introspection so that we see lasting change in this country.
This is so on the mark. Great column.
Well said. Most Canadians, regrettably, have never learned this.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. You Sir must be listening into the conversations my husband and I have been having for years. We deserve what we get.
All I hear from the Feds is more bail out packages if the US puts tariffs on Canadian products - NO, not a dime to anyone to is to be affected! Billions literally disappeared in Covid relief and Billions more will vanish to Liberal friends again! If you are going to spend, buy real stuff to defend Canada and build some pipelines too - stop handing cash to the government’s “friends” and calling it support of Canadians!!!!!!!
It's amazing to me how much of the decline in our "projected influence" seems to begin with the unification of Canada's military in 1968 by then Minister of Defence Paul Hellyer.
"Meanwhile, while our traditional soft-power conceits (“honest broker,” “helpful fixer,” “great convenor”) were themselves replaced by a bathetic series of after-school special morality plays put on by an Instagram account masquerading as a G7 government. "
(insert standing ovation gif here)
Back in the early Sunny Ways days, one of the Chretien era MPs still hanging around said of the Trudeaupeans "these are very unserious people in very serious roles".
An excellent article. When are we going to get around to fixing the situation?
We desperately need an election if we have any chance of getting back on track to international respectability.