Michael Higgins: Meeting our NATO target wasn't that hard after all
In his speech, Carney enunciated what a decade of Liberal indifference has done to our military — only one of our four submarines is seaworthy and less than half of our maritime fleet and land vehicles are operational.
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We have allowed our military to deteriorate despite repeatedly being asked to step up and play our part in the NATO alliance. In 2022, then NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg visited Canada in a bid to shame us into increasing defence funding and reminded Trudeau: 'The shortest path to North America for Russian missiles and bombers would be over the North Pole.'
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'We have been jolted awake by new threats,' said Carney. The threats are not new, but it is gratifying that the Liberals are now awake to them.
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The government's new strategy to 'rebuild, reinvest and rearm' Canada's military has four pillars: investing in manpower and equipment; expanding and enhancing military capabilities; strengthening the defence industry; and diversifying defence partnerships.
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'We will invest in new submarines, aircraft, ships, armed vehicles and artillery, as well as new radar, drones and sensors to monitor the sea floor and the Arctic,' said Carney.
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Other welcome initiatives from the prime minister included establishing Borealis, the Bureau of Research, Engineering and Advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science, to 'advance cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other frontier technologies essential to safeguarding our sovereignty'; diversifying our military suppliers by looking to Europe; and creating a new defence procurement agency to centralize decision-making.
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Procurement has long been a thorn in the side of the military. Buying any military equipment can take decades because it often involves multiple departments. And, of course, political parties, depending on how they view military spending, can also add to the delay.
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In an interview with the National Post last year, retiring Chief of the Defence Staff Wayne Eyre said, 'We are applying peacetime processes and peacetime mentalities to what could be considered a wartime or immediate pre-wartime security environment.
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'So, what did we do in 1939? What did we do in 1914? We certainly didn't take 10 or 15 or 20 years to get capabilities in place, because the war would be over by that point. … We have to deliver and we have to deliver fast.'
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It has taken a decade to get here, but Carney is to be applauded for the urgency with which he is acting; for reinvesting in our men and women in uniform; for rearming our military; and for finally meeting our NATO commitment.
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But difficult decisions still lie ahead. In London on Monday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the organization needed a 'quantum leap' in new armaments as he warned Russia could be ready to use force against NATO within five years.
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