Canada only thinks about revamping its defence policy when there’s a catastrophe, and it’s basically a non-issue in federal elections, says a political studies professor. He adds that the status quo likely won’t change, despite its shortcomings, following the election.
James Fergusson, who is also deputy director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, told The Epoch Times that the Liberals’ long-term “Strong, Secure, Engaged” (SSE) defence policy, introduced in 2017, was outdated from the moment it was released.
“The rise of China and the resurgence of Russia are two primary threats to North Americans,” he said. “The world has changed.”
SSE also lacks details on North American defence modernization, projected to be a costly undertaking that needs to be tackled soon, Fergusson says.
The Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI), a registered charity that conducts research and education on defence and security policy, holds a similar view that SSE is due for a review and update.
It “lacks a broader analysis extending into national security and foreign policy,” the CDAI said in an election campaign primer on defence policy.
The institute pointed out that it takes years or decades to build defence capabilities and that future governments will have their options limited by the current policy.
Fergusson added that no re-elected government has ever gone back to undertake an overall defence policy review, and that a newly elected minority government is unlikely to change things much.
In addition, the government’s financial position has significantly weakened from fighting the pandemic and supporting the economy, and defence spending tends to be among the leading candidates for cutbacks.
No matter which party is elected, “the question becomes to what extent under the current economic situation relative to the impact of COVID-19 … and debt and deficit problems ... they’re going to start pushing things off to the future, simply because of a money problem,” Fergusson said.
Cyber Crime
The political parties’ campaign platforms tend to lump cyber crime in with defence and public safety responsibilities as it relates to hacks and foreign interference, even though cyber falls under the domain of public safety.
Canada has been the victim of communist China’s state-backed cyberattacks on multiple occasions. The feds believe the attacks aim to steal intellectual property and large amounts of personally identifiable information.
Global Affairs, National Defence, and Public Security said in a joint statement on July 19 that they were confident China’s Ministry of State Security was responsible for the hacking of Microsoft exchange servers in early March.
