Vol. 71/No. 9      March 5, 2007

Ottawa’s 2,500 soldiers are part of the NATO command and are stationed in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, where intense fighting has been taking place. Forty-four Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in the country since 2002.

The backdrop to Harper’s pledge—on behalf of Canada’s capitalist rulers—to deepen Ottawa’s military intervention in Afghanistan is a recently leaked report produced for National Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor that projects a massive increase in the military budget.

The undated nine-page document, “Canada First Defence Strategy—Funding Options,” was leaked to Liberal senator Colin Kenny, who provided it to Defense News, a U.S. Pentagon publication. Defense News published an article based on the report in its February 5 issue. The current defense budget is Can$15.1 billion (Can$1=US 86 cents). According to the document, leaders of Canadian Forces are calling for more than doubling the budget to Can$36.6 billion by 2025.

Defense News reports that the government has already announced “the purchase of Boeing Chinook helicopters and C-17 strategic-lift aircraft, Lockheed Martin C-130J aircraft, new trucks for the Army, and a new fleet of supply ships for the Navy.”

The effort of Canada’s rulers to transform their army into an effective and mobile combat force was signaled in February 2005 with the appointment by the previous Liberal government of Gen. Richard Hillier to Chief of Defence Staff. Hillier, who served in Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, is noted for his many speeches in support of the Afghanistan military operation and the transformation of the armed forces.

The following May, the Liberal government released a revamped military policy titled, “Setting the Course for the Future: Canada’s New Defence Policy.” The document announced an increase in the military budget, giving Ottawa “the means to strengthen our capacity to defend Canada and Canadians, protect our interests, as well as play a more significant leadership role in the world.”

Discussion on the military buildup broke out publicly February 15 at the annual meeting of the Conference of Defence Associations.

In a speech to the meeting, General Hillier attacked the previous Liberal government for underfunding the Canadian military during what he called “a decade of darkness.”

“Over the past one to two years we have begun to fully realize the immense, the negative impact of the defense expenditure reductions in 1994,” Hillier said.

His comments received a sharp rebuke from Denis Coderre, the Liberal defense critic in the party’s shadow cabinet, who said they were inappropriate. “I think it’s highly political… . To get involved in politics, there is one way. You should run [as a candidate for Parliament].”

Other opponents of the government backed Hillier. “The general is right to say the Liberals did not support our troops and their families with adequate equipment to keep them safe, or with adequate salaries or even remuneration for families who were bereaved,” said New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton.

Responding to reporters’ questions about Hillier’s speech, Defence Minister O’Connor stated that the Conservative government intends “to rebuild the armed forces come hell or high water.”  
 
 
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