By Alexander Moens (Originally published by the CDA Institute in March 2016, Re-printed with permission)
Introduction
The new Liberal government’s call for a defence policy review is sensible and timely, as the previous defence vision of the government of Canada is nearly ten years old.
The most fundamental parameters of Canadian defence policy are almost definitional. Three unchanging prioritized tasks stand firm: the defence of Canada, the defence of North America, and the pursuit of international peace and security.1 Canada does not have the option of dropping one of these three or re-ordering them. How can Canada have a defence policy that does not aim in the first place to defend its own people and territory, and how can Canada not choose to defend North America with the United States? Yet, ironically, because the first two priorities are so clear, the bulk of attention in Canadian defence policy tends to fall on how we envision the third leg of our trio: international security.
Although these three are beyond choice, there is a ‘genuine range of choice’ for Canadian defence policy. The first choice is between specialized or generalized capabilities; between concentrating on a limit array of tasks with the highest quality tools versus covering a wide array of tasks with adequate tools. The second choice of options pertains to the political vision of Canada’s foreign and security policy. One option is to place Canada’s international security task mainly inside a United Nations based framework. The other is to place Canada’s international security policy mainly inside an Allies and Partners Framework. I will argue that both Canada’s mix of values and interests as well as the present dangers we face call for strong emphasis on the Allies and Partners Framework.
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