Search

This article proposes that Canada has ignored its military for too long, and that spending must increase in order to handle crises at home or abroad. There is probably no area where Paul Martin's problems are more pressing than defence. The military's basic strategy document, the 1994 White Paper, is predicated on the premise that we can relax now that the Cold War is over. And although no one knows the final bill for our one-year peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan--it ends this summer--it has almost certainly pushed the department over its $13.1-billion budget for 2003-2004. Prime minister Martin knows what he wants: the capacity to allow Canada to back its foreign policy with military force.