Trudeau’s “plan for national defense is to rely on Joe Biden or Donald Trump to protect Canada,” says Poilievre.
Amid the growing threat of global conflict amid massive military buildups by Russia and China, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pledging to do more to strengthen the Canadian Armed Forces.
Speaking to reporters, Poilievre said Justin Trudeau has “made Canada weak,” and said the Prime Minister was outsourcing our national defense:
“Pierre Poilievre: “Justin Trudeau has made Canada weak, poor and defenseless. His plan for national defense is to rely on Joe Biden or Donald Trump to protect Canada. That puts America in charge of Canada’s future.””
Pierre Poilievre: "Justin Trudeau has made Canada weak, poor and defenseless. His plan for national defense is to rely on Joe Biden or Donald Trump to protect Canada. That puts America in charge of Canada's future." pic.twitter.com/p2RH8V3dTM
— True North (@TrueNorthCentre) February 15, 2024
Poilievre also stated he would cut foreign aid going to “dictators, terrorists, and multinational bureaucracies,” and put that money into “reinforcing our military.”
Canada still gives foreign aid to authoritarian states like China, and our tax dollars were used to fund the terror-linked United Nations Relief & Works Agency.
Ending that funding and redirecting it towards our military would be a good start, and Poilievre is right on the mark there.
Additionally, his call for reforming the procurement system is important, because we must insure that boosting military funding actually translates into a real increase in our military capability.
After all, the Liberals have repeatedly promised to increase military spending, only to constantly push that funding farther into the future. The military has been the one and only area where the Liberal government consistently spends less than what they projected.
No time to lose to defend our sovereignty
Slowly but surely, more and more people are realizing that the threat posed by China, Russia, and Iran is not going to just go away.
We can’t just sit back and hope for the best.
And we can’t expect others to take responsibility for defending us.
And this brings us to the most important thing Pierre Poilievre said.
The United States is entering into a very chaotic and unpredictable phase.
The far-left is pushing for the U.S. to abandon Israel, while the far-right is pushing for the U.S. to abandon Ukraine.
Whether the U.S. would defend fellow NATO countries in the face of an attack by Russia or China is now an open question, and that kind of doubt signficantly decreases the deterrence effect of the alliance.
In that kind of world, Canada cannot automatically count on others.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t work with our allies. In fact, we should be deepening our military-industrial ties with countries like the United Kingdom, the U.S., Germany, France, Japan, and more to ensure we build the know-how to produce advanced weapons within Canada in partnership with our friends.
However, we also have to pull our own weight, and we also have to expand our own capacity to defend our airspace, defend our coastal waters, and defend our large landmass.
Not only can we afford to do this if we apply some overall fiscal discipline, we can’t afford not to do it.
The cost of being left helpless in a dangerous world is far higher than the cost of ensuring we have an advanced and robust military capability.
This is yet another thing Pierre Poilievre understands that Justin Trudeau does not, and is yet another reason why Poilievre is so far ahead of Trudeau in the polls.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
