Adam Chapnick and Christopher J. Kukucha, eds. The Harper Era in Canadian Foreign Policy: Parliament, Politics, and Canada’s Global Posture Vancouver
| Author | Asa McKercher |
| Published date | 01 March 2017 |
| Date | 01 March 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0020702017694156 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
of experienced procurement specialists in the Department of National Defence,
a legacy of the Jean Chre
´tien and Paul Martin budget cuts in the mid-1990s that
laid off the experts. There is the insistence on domestic offsets for foreign purchases,
something that makes every purchase cost more. (The Iltis jeeps cost $26,500 in
Germany but $84,000 each when made in Canada!) There is a reluctance to pur-
chase off-the-shelf equipment and an insistence on tailoring ships or trucks or
aircraft to ultra-specific Canadian requirements. And there are the games the pol-
itical parties play with defence, something they can get away with because they are
certain that the voters don’t care. Every minister, every journalist, every informed
voter knows that Canada will only fight a war with alliance partners; let someone
else provide the muscle and machinery. Not a serious country.
So how can this be fixed? It’s no use trying for a silver bullet solution, Nossal
argues correctly; there is none. Instead, governments should strive for a Liberal–
Conservative bipartisan policy (he rightly and deliberately omits the New
Democrats, Greens, and Bloc Que
´be
´cois from serious consideration here, their
perennial defence foolishness ruling them out) that gives the nation the defence
forces and equipment that it will accept and be willing to pay for. We need aircraft
to defend North America because of our alliance with the United States, and those
aircraft must be able to operate seamlessly with the United States Air Force. We
need ships that can patrol our waters and cooperate with the United States Navy.
Everything else is, in effect, discretionary, and Canadian defence procurement
should focus on what must be acquired for these roles. That doesn’t mean an
end to the army, but it does mean prioritizing equipment purchases.
To achieve a bipartisan policy, Nossal calls for a continuous review of defence
by a joint committee of members of parliament and senators, the object being to
achieve buy-in on military roles and equipment. He wants White Papers produced
on a regular basis and calls for ministers to support them because they understand
and accept the fiscal implications, not simply to get defence off the Cabinet table
for a few months. Such changes in the political process, Nossal argues, just might
make Canadian defence procurement work better than it does. It could hardly
work worse.
Nossal’s is a call for action that deserves serious consideration. Unfortunately,
as he has noted, Canada is not a serious country, so we all know that nothing will
be done, no matter which political party leads.
Adam Chapnick and Christopher J. Kukucha, eds.
The Harper Era in Canadian Foreign Policy: Parliament, Politics, and Canada’s Global Posture
Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. 2016. 285 pp. $34.95 (paperback)
ISBN: 978–0–7748–3320–2
Reviewed by: Asa McKercher, McMaster University mckercha@mcmaster.ca
In 2011, fresh off his majority election win, Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave an
interview to Maclean’s in which he reflected on two things: the past five
Book Reviews 143
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