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John Robson: Canada Must Not Only Have a Strong Military, but Also Rearm Intellectually

John Robson: Canada Must Not Only Have a Strong Military, but Also Rearm Intellectually
Deployed members of Operation Nunalivut, a Canadian Armed Forces operation to show an Arctic presence, disembark a CC-177 Globemaster aircraft at Resolute Bay airport in Nunavut on March 2, 2018. Petty Officer Second Class Belinda Groves, Task Force Imagery Technician
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Commentary

It is of course good news that the Canadian government intends to do something serious about defence. It’s not so good that a great many commentators mistook the announcement for the achievement, given our government’s crumbling capacity to do anything. But before I get near the specifics, let me emphasize the urgent necessity of rearming intellectually. If we don’t understand that the world is a dangerous place where we have real enemies, we’re very likely to come up with a defence plan that spends a lot of money on anything and everything except a real, effective capacity to break things and hurt people.

John Robson
John Robson
Author
John Robson is a documentary filmmaker, National Post columnist, senior fellow at the Aristotle Foundation, contributing editor to the Dorchester Review, and executive director of the Climate Discussion Nexus. His most recent documentary is “The Environment: A True Story.”