The Conservative Party of Canada recently held its first ever policy convention in Montreal. At that convention, delegates adopted a series of resolutions on a raft of topics. These are the the resolutions adopted under the broad heading of national defence and security. (The headings were chosen by the party and the resolutions were placed in various groups by the party.) Reproduced below is each resolution in the broad grouping as it was voted on by delegates. All of the following were adopted or carried by at the convention. The acronym EDA in the following stands for Electoral District Association. The resolutions here are presented in the order in which they were presented to delegates. Where there is need for explanation, my comments are made within square brackets [ ] and are in boldface. Other than that, everything here has been written by party officials.
National Defence and Security
P-83 Defence Principles | P-88: Veterans | P-89: Security | P-85: Funding Our Military | P-86: Equipping Our Military-Arctic Sovereignty
P-83 Defence Principles
It is moved that the current Clauses 86 to 92 be replaced with the following:
86. Canada First Defence Policy
The purpose of Conservative defence policy is to better defend the national interest – the security of the Canadian nation and the economic prosperity of the Canadian people – in accord with the values of Canadians. In all that we do in the area of defence policy, we will apply this basic measure of the national interest, and advance a “Canada First” Defence policy.
i) The roles and missions supported by the Conservative Party of Canada are first, sovereignty protection, domestic defence, and North American shared defence. Conservatives will also support international peace and security missions as well as humanitarian assistance.
ii) The Conservative Party of Canada supports a multi-role, combat capable maritime, land and air force as the appropriate requirement to meet the goals of a “Canada First” Defence Policy. Fundamental capability requirements are national surveillance and control, counter terrorism, air and sea deployability, as well as logistics supportability.
iii) To achieve these capability requirements, the Conservative Party of Canada believes that Canada's national defence must be more effective and efficient. This includes commitments to provide: improved security of our territory, more front line personnel with less administration; a more efficient and properly funded national procurement process; increased investments in infrastructure with a specific care to married quarters and base housing; a more efficient training and recruitment process; a reduction in rank structure overhead, and an increase in Parliamentary oversight over national defence matters.
iv) To achieve the goals of a “Canada First” Defence Policy, the Conservative Party of Canada believes the regular force strength of the Canadian Forces must be steadily increased to at least 75,000 personnel, along with simultaneous increases in reserve personnel levels.
v) To support and maintain Canada's military today as well as cover the costs of an increased force, the Conservative Party of Canada believes in immediately injecting significant funds into the Department's budget, to address the shortfalls in capital, personnel, operating and maintenance activities. To implement our policy, annual increases will follow throughout the mandate.
vi) The Conservative Party of Canada supports the longer term goal of increasing the defence budget base to ensure that Canada can advance its national interests, at levels comparable to Canada's NATO European allies.
vii) The Conservative Party supports:
a) Canada's participation in negotiation of a North American Missile Defence System on the clear understanding that any agreement must serve Canada's interest;
b) NORAD as a viable aerospace defence organization to counter threats to North America;
c) Canada's continued cooperation between Canada and the US with respect to military activities in defence of North America; and
d) Canada's continued sovereign and independent command of all armed forces operations within Canadian territory.viii) The Conservative Party of Canada believes that a viable Canadian Defence Industry contributes to our national security and our industrial productivity, through such sectors as shipbuilding, aerospace, electronics, and land systems among others. Defence procurement will, subject to availability, quality and cost, support Canadian industry that can meet military requirements. The Conservative Party also believes that it is essential to ensure Canadian defence industry has access to the United States defence procurement market.”
Moved by National Caucus.
P-88: Veterans
It is moved that the current Clause 93 be amended by adding five new subclauses as follows:
“iv) The Conservative Party of Canada would immediately disband the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) and replace the membership with qualified medical and military members who are capable of adjudicating appeals on an informed basis rather than a political basis. The VRAB would be housed in offices separate from VA offices and be in locations as set out in the VA Regional offices (major centres).
v) The Conservative Party of Canada would immediately enlist the services of an Ombudsman with a mandate similar to that of the National Defence Ombudsman.
vi) The Conservative Party of Canada would immediately extend Veterans Independence Program services to the widows of all WWII and Korea veterans regardless of when the Veteran died or how long they had been receiving the benefit before they passed away.
vii) The Conservative Party of Canada would examine measures to ensure that National military treasures are retained in Canada as a part of our Canadian heritage.
viii) The Conservative Party of Canada would immediately institute a complete overhaul of Veterans Affairs Canada bringing it online with the needs of today's veterans of conflict and peacekeeping missions. This would include instituting a standard of delivery of services, i.e., reviews, payment of services, etc.”
Moved by National Caucus.
P-89: Security
It is moved that the current Clause 94 be replaced with the following:
“94. Security
i) The Conservative Party of Canada believes that Canada has a direct interest in a more stable and secure world. Our government must be positioned to deal with complex international security issues in order to protect our citizens and contribute to the broader responsibility.
ii) A Conservative government will ensure better cooperation among Canada's intelligence and security agencies to more effectively protect Canadians against internal and external security and economic threats in a changing and unstable global environment. Canada must not be a safe haven for international terrorist operatives.
iii) A Conservative government will establish a Canadian national intelligence agency to coordinate existing intell
igence from all sources to provide the Prime Minister, senior ministers and officials with national intelligence information and assessments. The creation of a new Canadian national intelligence agency will be drawn from the Privy Council Office's international assessment and security and intelligence secretariats.iv) In a post September 11th world, a Conservative government will enhance the foreign intelligence gathering and analytical capacity of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), Department of National Defence, and Communications Security Establishment (CSE).
v) A Conservative government will work with our North American partners to coordinate efforts on security for our collective personal safety and economic prosperity.
vi) A committee of senior government and official opposition MPs (sworn to secrecy as required) will be established to scrutinize and oversee the activities of the national intelligence agency, utilizing confidential and in-camera sessions as required. The head of the national intelligence agency should be confirmed by Parliament and should appear before the committee as required.
vii) A Conservative government will ensure that agencies such as CSIS, RCMP, Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Coast Guard are properly resourced both in manpower and equipment. “
Moved by National Caucus.
P-85: Funding Our Military
It is moved that the current Clause 89 be replaced with the following:
“A Conservative Government will increase defence spending to the NATO European average as a percentage of G.D.P. A Conservative Government will also guarantee a stable defence budget so that the Department of National Defence can spend funds on its most urgent operational and equipment priorities.”
Moved by Durham RJPM. Similar resolutions moved by London, Alberta, Glengarry, Quebec and Southwestern Ontario RJPMs and Richmond EDA.
P-86: Equipping Our Military-Arctic Sovereignty
It is moved that a new subclause be added to the current Clause 90:
“v) A Conservative Government will move immediately to increase equipment and resources to exercise Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic.”
Moved by Northern Ontario RJPM. Similar resolutions moved by Kitchener and Quebec RJPMs and Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo EDA.