"Would Anyone Notice if Canada Disappeared?"
Once, an international player, boasting to have the third world’s
largest navy and fourth largest
army in the world, today Canada seems to be just “a decent
country but not a principal player” (Ch. Sands, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies). What happened? Well, in short, Canada seems to have neither the will nor the wallet to make its mark on the world. Simple as that, when it comes to percentage of GDP devoted to defense, the second largest country in the world is near the bottom of NATO’s members. OK, “third largest navy, fourth army in the world”... that was right after the WW II ended, and obviously not only the likes of Germany, Italy and Japan, but also most of those who could call themselves “victorious”, were in shamble, so to me this sounds a bit demagogic, but the truth is that during the WW I Canada
sent 600 000 troops to Europe (and suffered 60 000 casualties). Then, 20 years later, its contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany was also undisputable. Prime Minister W.L. McKenzie King discussed
war strategy with F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill. In 1950s, as a member of NATO, Canada maintained a force o 120 000
soldiers in Europe, plus 22 000 Canadian army special forces volunteered for a U.N. mission in Korea.Six years later comes one of the finest moments in this young country’s history, as it defuses the Suez crisis, and develops the idea of “peacekeeping”. In 1957 Secretary of State of External Affairs Lester Pearson for his role wins the Nobel Peace Prize. In the 70s Canada is the world leader in peacekeeping, participating in almost every mission worldwide. Still, in the first Gulf War Canada was a significant participant, but soon afterwards, in the early 90s as its finances were in a mess, Canada cut back its foreign policy tools. In 1999 it sent a modest personnel of 1300soldiers to Kosovo. Three years later, 830 troops supported the US war on terrorism in Afghanistan. In the months before the invasion of Iraq, Canada’s government showed indecisiveness, lack of focus and aim. Chretien managed to say both that a second Security Council resolution was needed and it wasn’t. What made the whole, very delicate situation worse, was that he failed to inform the American Administration about Canada’s decision not to participate in the war before he announced itto Parliament on March 18. “I don’t think it cultivated any sense of respect”, said NDP leader Jack Layton. “Deciding at the absolute last possible minute, with 3000 soldiers or so already in the theater, sent a lot of mixed messages.
Mixed? Well, as we know, Canada wasn’t the only country that didn’t fall in line with the US. but for years “Canucks” considered themselves Americans’ best friends. And here,just three weeks into the war, Ottawa announces that ships patrolling the Persian Gulf might not hand over fleeing Iraqis they captured to the US! Class act, eh? The problem, bigger than the decision of not supporting their only neighbors and traditional allies, was the WAY Canadians handled it.
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Sorry, folks. Looks like there's not enough space here. If you're interested in MY opinion on "why Canada didn't go to war" please go to "Would Anyone Notice... Part II".
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