Gordon O'Connor may be gone but a key document he worked on for most of his tenure as Canada's Defence Minister comes before cabinet tomorrow, my defence industry sources tell me.
O'Connor, while he as an opposition MP, pretty much wrote up his party's first principles for a “Canada First” defence strategy and then went out and made sure the grassroots of his party adopted them at the party's first-ever policy convention in Montreal in 2005.
Peter MacKay is now defence minister so it'll be up to him to make the case for the “Canada First” defence strategy — an important 'master plan' of sorts that sets out the kinds of threats and dangers Canada's civilian leaders expect their military leaders to guard us against over the next 20 years or so. O'Connor, the former general is who is now our Minister of National Revenue, will get a chance to have his say just like everyone else around the cabinet table.
This document becomes the guide for recruitment, procurement, and training for Canada's Armed Forces.
The Conservatives call this document “Canada First”. The Liberals called their last such document, approved by cabinet in 2005 when Bill Graham was defence minister, the “Defence Policy Statement“. This document has made it to some committees of cabinet a few times but has been sent back for review and revision each time. Tomorrow, it looks like it might make it through full cabinet.
What's in it? Don't know but would love to.
The Ruxted Group — a kind of ad hoc group of current and former CF members with an interest in defence policy — believes that the Canada First strategy should come with a steep price tag — and that it should not be simply an exercise in shuffling the deck chairs:
We need to worry less and less about how headquarters are structured, and even whether or not we have too many underemployed admirals and generals, and focus on building, staffing and sustaining enough (many more than we have now) ships, and army and air force units – combat units and support units alike. Ruxted has posited that we will need much more than $20 billion by 2010 for the defence budget. It will have to grow by tens of billions and we will have to find that money year after year for decades to come if we are to pay a lead role in the long, arduous war which we face.
This needs to be presented to Canadians in a Throne Speech. A responsible Canadian government needs to be elected on a promise to make Canada a leader in the world and to give Canada the armed forces which will make that possible. Then it needs to keep that promise. Canada is a modern, sophisticated and, above all, a rich country. We can help the less fortunate in the world; we can lead the other middle powers in the quest to “do the right thing.” It takes will and it takes money.