“We are not an island. We cannot hide from our allies and alliances even if we want to. And Canada’s status-quo approach – to the threats we face, to our DIB and to how we develop and procure military capability – makes us less relevant to our closest allies like the U.S., which is turning to those allies ready to match rhetoric with action, notably Australia,” writes Christyn Cianfarani – President and CEO of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI).
The Liberal government has talked a big game when it comes to helping Ukraine.
And, Canada has given some equipment to Ukraine as it fights for survival against Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion.
However, our efforts lag far behind our allies.
The head of the Canadian Armed Forces called for the Canadian defence industry to put itself on a ‘war footing,’ ramping up production so we can both help rebuild our own depleted stocks of equipment and provide help to Ukraine.
But those words have not been met with action.
To the contrary, Christyn Cianfarani – President and CEO of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) which represents over 650 defence, security and cyber companies – said in a scathing letter that the industry has received no direction from the government.
I encourage you to read and share the full letter, because it is one of the strongest and most detailed indictments of Canada’s lack of seriousness when it comes to national defence.
Below, I have included some key excerpts:
“Meanwhile, Canada has committed just over C$1.1 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the war began, while the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have provided four M-777 howitzers to the Ukrainian army and 100 old Carl Gustav anti-tank weapons.
Respectfully, while the government claims this is a significant contribution, it is in fact marginal in light of the devastating situation on the ground and in comparison to what many of our NATO allies have contributed. Tiny Denmark, for example, with a military one-quarter the size of Canada’s, has provided some 2,700 shoulder-held anti-tank weapons to Ukraine this year.
Hence, moving to more of a war footing, like our allies have done, is probably required. And Canadian defence companies can and would step up if they knew exactly what, and how much, to step up with.
But Canada has not been anywhere near a wartime footing in the past 70 years. This was made painfully clear at the conference by virtue of the number of references to 1943. No one in industry has a clue what government will require from companies to achieve that end, or even what “wartime footing” means to government in the modern context. The fact that neither the prime minister nor any government ministers have echoed Eyre’s comments causes further confusion.”
“Nevertheless, no firm will take vague exhortations to “increase their production lines” seriously without meaningful and systematic commitment from the government. No respectable CEO is going to take the risk of ordering tens of millions of dollars worth of parts to then see them sitting on a shelf awaiting integration while simultaneously telling investors to trust them that a buyer will materialize in this highly managed protectionist market.”
“Allied governments are already at the table with their respective industry partners. The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, for example, has been speaking to and buying from British defence companies daily since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Likewise in Washington.
Institutionalized, government-defence industry relationships and forums – with information sharing on government objectives and military equipment demand linked to domestic supply and capabilities – have existed in these and other NATO states for decades. Our allies have taken the view that a strong domestic defence industrial base (DIB) is critical to national defence output, not just in times of crisis, but at all times, and that a DIB cannot exist independent of the domestic military customer it serves.
Canada doesn’t think this way. It has been decades since we have fostered serious, institutionalized government-defence industry collaboration that would allow the two sides to work together toward common objectives like getting on a wartime footing. We heard the talking points loud and clear at the recent conference: Canada’s defence industry is vital to the CAF’s effectiveness and output. Partnership with industry is crucial. But when followed by no drumbeat of action, the expression “all sizzle and no steak” comes to mind. We heard precisely zero on how the government intends to create a partnership where one does not currently exist.”
Canada is also losing credibility among our allies:
“The war in Ukraine and heightened tensions in the Indo-Pacific, which are both the product of well-known and entrenched Russian and Chinese territorial ambitions and revanchism, mean Canada will continue to be implicated in big international security events, whether we like it or not. We are not an island. We cannot hide from our allies and alliances even if we want to. And Canada’s status-quo approach – to the threats we face, to our DIB and to how we develop and procure military capability – makes us less relevant to our closest allies like the U.S., which is turning to those allies ready to match rhetoric with action, notably Australia. When the AUKUS deal was announced earlier this year, President Joe Biden stated in public that America has no closer ally than Australia. People in Ottawa should have fallen off their chairs. Instead, our prime minister dismissed AUKUS as a “submarine deal” while the Australians doubled down – sending a high-level, ministerial delegation to a recent American defence tradeshow that not a single Canadian minister attended.”
Canada treats serious issues like a joke, and jokes like serious issues
You’ll have noticed a pattern with the government:
Serious issues such as whether we sell LNG to our allies or rebuild our military are treated as a joke, while joke issues and ‘woke’ controversies are treated as the most serious thing possible.
We have things entirely backward, and it’s no wonder that we end up falling far short of our true potential as a country.
We need to start listening to people like Christyn Cianfarani and the Canadian defence industry, realize that we live in a very dangerous world, and that responding to that danger requires building real weapons to protect our freedom and dissuade hostile states.
You can read the full letter by Cianfarani here.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
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