“Conservatives will call for strong action to counter these threats with stronger military, intelligence and alliances with fellow democracies.”
With Canada’s inability to defend our own territory having been made painfully obvious in the past few days – as if it wasn’t already obvious enough – the Conservatives are signalling that national security will be a key issue of focus going forward.
In a statement, CPC Leader Pierre Poilievre ripped the Trudeau Liberal government for failing to ensure Canada has an adequate national defence.
The full statement can be read below:
“The Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Official Opposition, released the following statement:
“These multiple and unequivocal violations of our national sovereignty should be a wake-up call for the Trudeau Liberals who have failed to combat growing threats, particularly from the Communist Party in Beijing. Shooting down the balloons was the right thing to do. But after 8 years of Justin Trudeau, Canada cannot defend itself.
“Due to Liberal mismanagement of national defence, Canada lacks effective Early Warning Systems to detect this type of incursion into our airspace. With his failure to counter foreign interference and properly resource our military over 8 years, the Prime Minister has made us more vulnerable to foreign aggression. His cancellation of the F-35 jets wasted years and billions of dollars that could have gone into our forces. Had Canada possessed these jets today, we would not be so vulnerable and unprepared for danger.
“Conservatives will call for strong action to counter these threats with stronger military, intelligence and alliances with fellow democracies.””
The violations of our airspace over the last ten days displayed our lack of ability to defend our sovereignty. #cdnpoli
Read @PierrePoilievre's statement here: pic.twitter.com/HTynUdbXYF— James Bezan (@jamesbezan) February 13, 2023
An important statement
The number one job of any federal government is to ensure the nation is protected.
Yet, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have managed to massively increase federal spending and run huge deficits while still leaving Canada’s national defences in a moribund state.
Combined with their demoralizing attitude towards Canadian values and Canadian history, and Canada is facing severe recruitment challenges in addition to our lack of modern equipment.
This needs to be a key issue in the minds of Canadians, because no other political debate really matters if our country cannot defend itself.
Additionally, at a time when we need to step up and pull our own weight in our key alliances, Canada is a laggard.
In a more dangerous world, we can’t afford to be a burden to our allies.
So, it is important that the Conservatives have made a strong statement on national defence, and we all need to follow through with sustained pressure on the government to bolster our military ASAP.
Spencer Fernando
