The incredible shrinking nation

By Jackson Murphy
web posted October 8, 2001

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore," Peter
Finch said in the 1976 movie "Network". I echo that sentiment
as I watch in disbelief at the inaction of the Canadian government
and the political elites.

I was attending a forum on arms control issues at Simon Fraser
University last week headlined by the former Minister of Foreign
Affairs Lloyd Axworthy -- the moral center of Canada's
peacekeeping and human security agenda from 1996-2000. It
actually ended up being a discussion on the issue of Canada's
options in the wake of September 11.

Axworthy warned that the war on terrorism cannot become, "a
new holy grail" that pushes away all other security issues. He
warned that this should not prompt a, "bandwagon to perimeter
defense."

What he and much of the liberal establishment want is to resolve
this issue with a better international legal system, international
police coordination, and the implementation of the International
Criminal Court (ICC).

This is utter nonsense. Canada and much of the world pursued
human security throughout the 1990's and look where it got us.
The answer to these terrorist acts of war is using every weapon
in our arsenal including military action.

Then there is Defence Minister Art Eggleton who has tried to
defend the dismantling of Canada's military. In an op-ed in the
Ottawa Citizen Eggleton wrote, "a good portion of the discourse
in Canada appears to be rooted in 'old-think'. And history has
shown repeatedly that one of the most serious errors a military
can make is to prepare for the last war."

I think it should be noted that there is a distinct difference
between 'old-think' and Eggleton's 'no think'. He lamely defends
the current state of the military and intelligence agencies by
suggesting that we are upgrading our CF-18's and that we have
an excellent Counter Terrorism unit (Joint Task Force 2 or
JTF2). ]

But this JTF2 unit consisting of an estimated 200-250 men at a
cost of $40 million based in Dwyer Hill, Ontario and is certainly
not prepared to do much there to prevent any terrorism.

Canada is succumbing to what York University Professor Martin
Shadwick called the 'New Zealandization' of the military. Which
reflects the May 2000 Government Defence Statement in New
Zealand. In that statement Prime Minister Helen Clark pledged
to rebuild New Zealand's chronically under funded military
(sound familiar?) and enable it to make a useful contribution
internationally.

The reality saw the transformation of both New Zealand's Air
Force and into glorified police related missions. Now with no
effective air or sea force New Zealand is unable even to
contribute to regional security to say nothing of international
commitments. This is the direction Canada's military is taking.

The government has also created an ad-hoc federal anti-
terrorism committee. Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley who
told the National Post that "you can't just sit at the G8 table and
then, when the bill comes, go to the washroom" leads this 'brain
trust'.

At least Manley is somewhat realistic and has said that there is a,
"glaring inadequacy" in Canada's intelligence, defence, and
foreign-aid capabilities that is undermining the nation's ability to
meet obligations and reputation.  But Eggleton, Finance Minister
Paul Martin, Justice Minister Anne McLellan, Immigration
Minister Elinor Caplan, Transport Minister David Collenette,
Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay, Deputy Prime Minister
Herb Gray, Intergovernmental Affairs Stephane Dion, and
National Revenue's Martin Cauchon surround him.

These are the same people who have presided over the
dismantling of our military and in the process left us completely
open to terrorism, biological attack, chemical attack, and nuclear
attack.

So far they have collectively done nothing-save Caplan and
McLellan who have pushed Bill C-11. This bill will make it
easier to detain and deport refugee claimants deemed to be a
security risk-too bad that we couldn't find 27,000 of these
refugees from the last five years alone.

Manley claims that he is an equal with the new US Homeland
Security Czar Tom Ridge. As much as I would like to believe
him it is shocking to think that one minister is in charge of Foreign
Affairs and Homeland Security. It says more about the lack of
quality members in the Liberal caucus than of Manley's ability.

More importantly there is the case of the already established
sub-committee of cabinet on intelligence. But that committee has
not met in over a year!

Beyond this the government is of the belief that we cannot rush
to merge our borders and immigration laws with the United
States for fear that we will lose our sovereignty. This is a typical
lack luster defense of Canada's nationhood reveals just how out
of touch the government is. Jean Chrétien is the incredible
shrinking prime minister-becoming more and more irrelevant for
each fund raising event he attends.

The essence of every nation is security. It is the raison d'etre of a
nation. So the question on everyone's mind is whether or not
Canadians want security and convergence with US policy or no
security and the possibility that we will be on the outside of a
fortress America.

Axworthy finished his talk by saying that Canadians cannot,
"derive all the good things without paying the price." He is right
we should have started paying the price 25-years ago.

Is anyone going to do anything about Canada slipping into
obscurity? At this rate Canada will be forever marginalized with
other nations of no importance. Welcome to the incredible
shrinking nation.

Jackson Murphy is a young independent commentator from
Vancouver, Canada writing on domestic and international
political issues (http:
//www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/international_relations_new).
He is a frequent contributor to Enter Stage Right and writes
weekly at suite101.com. You can reach him at
jacksonmurphy@telus.net.

Enter Stage Right - http://www.enterstageright.com