Canada “lives in a fireproof house, away from flammable materials”. That’s what we thought in Ottawa…in 1924.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
We find this quote from Senator Raoul Dandurand at the very beginning of an important report on national security, made public on Tuesday. It was written by a group of specialists on the subject, the majority of whom have already worked in this field within the federal government.
The problem – and it’s a big one – is that these experts claim that Canada’s position on national security has “changed little” since 1924. The notion is “rarely taken seriously” and we have developed a “ culture of convenience” in the matter, they denounce.
In another context, this complacency would not necessarily prevent us from sleeping. If we were still in the middle of the 1990s, for example. A time when we lived in blissful innocence, some being convinced that we were witnessing the end of history, the triumph of democracy and the liberal values that generally accompany it.
The problem is that over the past decade, history has accelerated. The world is less stable than yesterday and, probably, more than tomorrow.
Threats to our national security are multiplying these days like the metastases of an aggressive cancer. To deny our vulnerability would be irresponsible.
And to read the report, you would swear that not only is our house not fireproof, but that it is also… straw.
The many threats to Canada’s security come from both within and outside our borders. The authors of the report (affiliated with the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa) were careful to point this out.
So they bring up the January and February protests in Ottawa and elsewhere in Canada and worry about what that might portend. Because if the country has to face a “worst case scenario” in the future, it “is not ready enough”, say the experts.
The list of external threats is obviously longer. At the top are Russia and China. There are many activities of these two countries that jeopardize our security, particularly in the Arctic. Again, Canada is vulnerable. In Ottawa, we still don’t care enough.
The most delicate file, however, is that of the United States. Our neighbors worry us, with good reason. Trumpism has not finished wreaking havoc. Society is overly polarized. Democratic institutions are denigrated and weakened. Etc.
The United States could therefore “become a source of threat and instability,” the report acknowledges. However, the country remains, by far, our most important ally and trading partner. The situation calls for urgent attention.
For all these reasons and more (cyberattacks, organized crime, climate change, etc.), experts are convinced that the federal government must conduct “a public review of national security”. A fundamental step that should allow, in the short term, an overhaul of the Canadian strategy in this area.
This review is the first of several dozen recommendations contained in the report, which range from establishing mechanisms for the various actors involved to increase their cooperation to the creation of a “body” responsible for national security in within the federal cabinet.
At the same time, it is important to increase public awareness of these fundamental issues. The government doesn’t care enough about national security… but neither do the citizens.
We are, here, in the practical-practical suggestions, made by experts who have a fine knowledge of the workings of the machine. They know where the ones that need to be replaced are and know exactly where to oil.
In Ottawa, we would do well to take inspiration from their recommendations as soon as possible. And to listen to them when they beg us to take national security more seriously than in 1924.