We can do more than just remember. Let's actually support those who serve
The relationship between the bureaucracy and soldiers and veterans is not a harmonious one. At best it can be described as adversarial.
The relationship between the bureaucracy and soldiers and veterans is not a harmonious one. At best it can be described as adversarial.
Warfare is fast becoming more lethal and decisive. Modern armies must be able to respond to those changes as quickly as they occur. That cannot occur in an organization that is continually starved for funding like the Canadian Armed Forces is today.
Political decisions have simultaneously over-deployed the Canadian Armed Forces while not investing in its capabilities. This has upset the fragile sustainment system, leaving its actual operational capability in tatters.
Our system of procurement is fundamentally broken. Deliveries of major capabilities can now be counted in decades, where years should be the norm.
Diplomatic capital must be earned. Constantly shirking international obligations, most egregiously the direct request to increase Canada’s defence budget and effective contribution to international security, has exhausted that.
As the war approaches its second-year mark, Ukrainians have reason to be hopeful. While it remains engaged in a pitched struggle for its survival, a path to ultimate success is now evident.
How we handle our foreign affairs and defence and security concerns cannot be separated out from the more immediate day-to-day issues. This is because there are other stakeholders with influence on these issues: our allies. The United States in particular.
The harsh reality, though, is that the status quo is simply unsustainable. Perceptions and reality are on a collision course as world tensions rise and our defence capabilities continue to lag.
Flaws and all, Oppenheimer is certainly a film worth watching and grappling with. Few films are ambitious enough to take on such grand, weighty themes, and even fewer still are capable of provoking both an immediate visceral reaction and deep, drawn-out thought.
The potential for diasporas to be drawn into a foreign conflict, willingly or unwillingly, is clear. Yet Canada’s political culture has been almost wholly unable to grapple with this reality.