Our New Defence Policy

Jo-Ann McArthur, President, Molson Sports and Entertainment and Director, The Empire Club of Canada; Jake Brennand, Grade 12 Student, North Toronto Collegiate Institute; Major, The Rev. Canon Ken Maxted, OMM, CD, Anglican Priest (Retired); Col. (Retired) Brian S. Macdonald, CD, MBA, Chair, Defence Studies, Royal Canadian Military Institute; BGen. Peter A.G. Cameron, Former Honorary Colonel, 48th Highlanders of Canada Co-Chair, Reserves 2000 and Chairman, The Garfield Group; Maj. William A. Duncan, CD (in 1940 joined Argyll Sutherland Highlanders of Canada; First Canadian Officer into Holland in Sept. 19, 1944), Honorary Director, The Empire Club of Canada; MGen. Bruce J. Legge, Former Chief of Reserves and Cadets, Secretary General, CIOR, Colonel Co(KU)mmandant Logistics and Past President, The Empire Club of Canada; and Eldon Bennett, Partner, Aird & Berlis LLP.

Introduction by Bart Mindszenthy

Ladies and gentlemen, Minister Graham is a man with a mission.

It's a mission he's been on for some time, and now, perhaps, it is coming to fruition in a new, bold and satisfying way for our Minister of National Defence.

And that is in the form of the just-released International Policy Statement. The document outlines a comprehensive international strategy for Canada, including a vision for the renewal of the Canadian Forces and for their adaptation to the new security environment.

That new security environment demands that we all understand and respond to the different kinds of threats and challenges--those creating chaos, pain and suffering abroad; and in the new world reality--those that could cause chaos, pain and suffering right here at home.

So more than ever we need the right kind of people in the Canadian Forces, who are able to do the right things the right way and are equipped with the right skills and the best possible tools.

And that is precisely what the Defence Policy Statement that supports the International Policy Statement sets out to define and deliver.

When I scanned the document, what popped into gear in my memory bank was something my father had told me countless times. He was a career officer and loved his profession.

What my father told me was that a nation's armed forces have to live and be able to function on two parallel plains: one, where you know how to wage war, and the other, where you know how to protect peace.

But whichever you're called on to do, he said, you have to totally trust your leadership, you have to believe in your squads and yourself and you have to be up to the task at hand.

It seems to me that if our new direction and commitment to our military can be implemented, then indeed, our Canadian Forces will be up to the task at hand.

I know that is top of mind for our speaker today.

Minister Graham has the dedication, credentials and the growing expertise to help drive the new direction.

He earned his law degree from the University of Toronto, and his doctorate in legal sciences from the University of Paris.

He practiced and taught law in Toronto, while serving as a visiting lecturer in law at two Quebec universities.

Our guest speaker was first elected Member of Parliament for Toronto-Centre-Rosedale in 1993, and appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in January 2002. He was reappointed to this portfolio in December 2003. In July 2004 he was appointed Minister of National Defence.

From 1995 to 2002, Mr. Graham served as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the House of Commons on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Under his chairmanship, the committee produced important reports on issues including Canada's interests in the World Trade Organization, Canada's role in Kosovo, the implementation of legislation for the International Criminal Court, and the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City.

And there is so much more to say about the accomplishments of this man, and his keen connection with Ontario's francophone community.

But let me stop here.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the podium of the Empire Club of Canada our Minister of National Defence, the Honourable Bill Graham.

Bill Graham

Thank you very much Mr. President for that very kind introduction and thank you very much members of the Empire Club for being here today. To Aird and Berlis, thank you for looking after the head table today. I couldn't help but say to our guests from Aird and Berlis, when I joined my old firm of Atkins there were only 17 of us in the firm at that time. So it shows you both how old I am and what size a city Toronto was in those days. The law firms are all gigantic now, but in those days law was still a profession where we could talk to one another and actually have human relations with one another, but I'd better not go down that road. I want to thank you very much for coming distinguished guests and ladies and gentlemen and I'd like to thank you Mr. President and the Empire Club for inviting me to speak today.

I appreciate that this club has a proud tradition of extraordinary speakers. I went through the list when I had the privilege of signing the book in the next room. The names of Winston Churchill, Viscount Montgomery, the Dalai Lama, great Canadian leaders and great foreign leaders are there, but I think that the club's diversity was demonstrated by the fact that yesterday you had speaking to you a nine-year-old young woman who inspired Canadians by taking up the cause of homelessness. I think it says something about our country when someone that age can bring people together, raise money and challenge us to deal with one of the great social problems of our time. So congratulations to the Empire Club for having organized such an important opportunity for us to hear from that remarkable young woman.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's been nine months since I had the privilege of being named your Minister of National Defence and I feel very fortunate to be at the helm of an institution that features so prominently in the government's overall agenda and to be a part of an organization that has such a significant impact on the lives of Canadians and tens of thousands of people around the world. It's an exciting and in many ways an historic time for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces. With our new Chief of the Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier, and his senior management team, we have a vibrant new military leadership with innovative ideas rooted in recent operational experience both here in Canada and throughout the world and our senior military leaders are responsible for some of the world's most dedicated, professional and skilful men and women in uniform.

Over the past few years, as Canada's Foreign Minister and now as your Minister of Defence, I've had the privilege of seeing firsthand the outstanding work performed by the men and women of the Canadian Forces in challenging environments like Bosnia, Haiti and Afghanistan. In all of these instances, when I saw how they were managing extremely complex and dangerous missions and heard the gratitude of the people for whom they were providing security and stability, I can tell you I was a very, very proud Canadian. It was these same young men and women who many of us were thinking of when the Finance Minister announced nearly $13 billion in new funding for the Canadian Forces in the recent federal budget, the most substantial funding increase for our military in more than 20 years.

There's a future for our Armed Forces. I think that the budget was a clear demonstration of the government's commitment to re-invest in the Canadian Forces and in our men and women in uniform by providing nearly $3 billion to expand our military by 5,000 regular force members and 3,000 reservists. I'm very pleased that General Cameron is here and General Bruce Legge who have had tremendous experience with the reserves and I hope they will be helping us as we frame that important expansion. The budget provides more than $3 billion to address some ongoing sustainability issues facing the Canadian Forces. It also provides the Canadian Forces with more than $2.5 billion to immediately acquire new equipment including medium-to-heavy lift helicopters, new trucks for the army and utility aircraft for use in the Arctic. There's also money to invest in specialized new facilities for our elite counter-terrorism unit--the JTF2.

Finally, the budget provides us with nearly $4 billion to implement the new vision for the Canadian Forces that we released earlier this week. This budget and our new military leadership team at Defence represent a real turning point for the Canadian Forces and will provide us with the solid foundation that we need to make some of the most significant changes to our Armed Forces in more than a generation. This government's new defence policy statement, to which you referred Bart, lays out a bold new course for the Canadian Forces, a course designed to meet head on the security challenges of the 21st century. Today's world is far different from that of a decade ago. The terrorist attacks in the United States demonstrated very clearly that the dangers of the Cold War have been replaced by new and evolving threats; threats caused by failed and failing states, by global terrorism, by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and by instability.

At the same time threats of a more traditional nature such as intra-state or inter-state conflicts now exist alongside newer destabilizing factors such as environmental crisis on a global scale, civil strife and pandemics such as HIV and AIDS. I hardly need to remind a Toronto audience of the challenges associated with the SARS outbreak of three years ago. Those challenges still remain today as an important threat or problem for our theatre and hospitality industry in the country as they struggle to manage the consequences, which still remain with us. Simply put, the lines between security and defence have been blurred if not disappeared altogether. In today's security environment there is no home front and we cannot retreat within our own borders in a belief that the conflict is somewhere over there. The Prime Minister captured that challenge when he said today's front-line stretches from the streets of Kabul to the rail lines of Madrid to cities across Canada.

More than any time in recent history, ladies and gentlemen, events and instability far from our borders are a threat to the safety and security of Canadians. In the face of these new security challenges the first priority of our military, as set out in our new defence policy, must be the defence of Canada and of Canadians. This priority builds on our 2004 national security policy, which states there can be no greater role, no more important obligation for a government, than the protection and safety of its citizens. This is not an academic notion. It's a fundamental responsibility of government and today it must be met in extremely complex and uncertain conditions. I know that many of our stellar citizens believe that there is no real threat to our security in Canada and do not see the need to invest extensively in defence. I have to share with you that this is not what credible sources tell us and it is not being alarmist to prepare for quite realistic threats that we must take seriously and evaluate.

So in order to better protect the safety and security of Canadians, we will expand the presence of our regular, reserve and ranger forces throughout the country to respond more effectively to events across Canada including our Arctic. We'll improve how we gather, analyze and use information from all sources including satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles and radars across Canada. Accurate information is the key to understanding and countering modern terrorism in all of its sophisticated forms. Our maritime and air forces will place greater emphasis on protecting our coasts, our territorial waters and our airspace. We will enhance our national counter-terrorism response force, JTF2, to deal with emergencies in different parts of the country and we will increase the reserve forces' role in protecting Canada and Canadians by expanding their numbers and focussing their expertise on, among other things, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear responses to domestic emergencies that we could well have in our cities.

To better protect Canada and Canadians we will also change the way that the Canadian Forces approach domestic operations. In the past, Canada has structured its military primarily for international operations while the domestic role has been treated as a secondary consideration. At home, the military's response to domestic crises has been to assemble a temporary force drawn from existing structures designed for other purposes. The Canadian Forces have always been there to assist Canadians in their time of need, as we saw in the Saguenay and Manitoba floods, the 1998 ice storm, the fires in British Columbia and the hurricane in Nova Scotia. However the current ad hoc approach, which requires a new operational structure every time the Canadian Forces are called into action, is no longer sufficient and as a part of the government's new vision for the Canadian Forces, the military will now view Canada as a single operational area with a single national command structure called "Canada Command."

This new command structure will be able to bring the best available military resources from across Canada to bear on a domestic crisis quickly and effectively wherever it occurs nation-wide. Canada Command will also be able to provide more effective support to other government departments as required. The impact of our new command structure will also be seen in our North through a combination of enhanced surveillance from satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles and radars, a more visible military presence and other improved capabilities. The Canadian Forces will be better able to respond to northern emergencies and the government will be able to more strongly assert Canada's interest in this vital region of the country, a region that today is experiencing such unprecedented change and is calling for our renewed and increased involvement. So the first priority of our military will be the defence of Canada and the protection of Canadians.

Of course, in today's security environment this also means working closely with our American neighbours to defend our shared continent and our respective countries. Indeed, a key priority in our new defence policy statement is to develop a more sophisticated approach to our relationship with the United States, including strengthening our collective capacity to defend North America. The centerpiece of our defence partnership with the United States remains the North American Aerospace Defence Command or NORAD. Its importance was underscored on September 11 when it helped to restore control of our continental airspace shortly after the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York. Of course, you may recall that it was a Canadian who was in charge of the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center at NORAD on the morning of September 11 and that officer, in consultation with the Deputy Commander of NORAD, who was also a Canadian, worked to assess the threat to the United States and secure the skies of North America. I would suggest to you friends that there are few if any countries in the world that have such confidence and trust in one another that they entrust a key element of their defence to a structure where bi-national command puts their fate into the hands of a joint operation run by joint military officers who work together as a seamless whole but that's exactly the way NORAD works.

When I visited NORAD headquarters, I saw Canadians and Americans just doing their jobs. Their badges tell you what nationality they are, but it is their function that determines what they do, not their nationality, and this is a remarkable organization for Canada and one that we are dedicated to preserving and strengthening. And so we believe at this time it's appropriate to consider the possibility of expanding our current defence co-operation to include maritime and land-based elements as well. NORAD's mandate is to respond to aerospace threats for our continent. It doesn't have at this time the authority to counter maritime threats such as ships carrying a dirty bomb into New York or Halifax Harbour or to deal with the aftermath of a terrorist attack on North American soil. Given the current international environment, we believe that the current arrangement between our two countries therefore needs to become more comprehensive. It's unclear at this time whether these issues are best tackled within a renewed NORAD or by some other means.

But we are committed to exploring new ways to work with the United States in the defence of our shared continent. We know that our American partners are looking for ways to expand our collective capacity to work together; a capacity that they have seen reinforced by our recent budget and our new defence policy statement. In the end, increased security capacity at home in Canada translates into increased credibility in the United States thus reinforcing another basic element of our foreign policy and that is to say an excellent working relationship with our United States neighbour. In spite of what you hear from some critics who say we are incorporating ourselves into the Americans, that we're turning over our sovereignty to the United States because we will be incorporating our military with theirs, that is not at all what it is about. It is about two neighbours working together.

Canada is a strong and independent country that is now better able to manage its own defence working with the United States as an equal partner in the defence of North America and we can never forget that North America is a united whole. We cannot ever forget that an attack on Seattle will be an attack on Vancouver or a nuclear attack on Rochester will not leave Toronto unscathed or visa versa. That must be our motivation at all times to work with the Americans for our joint security. As we consider the way in which the world has unfolded since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, we've got to focus more efforts on protecting Canada and Canadians here in the North American context, but I have to assure you ladies and gentlemen that that will not be done at the expense of our ability to meet threats outside North America as well.

And so in his report, in speaking of Canada's role in the world, the Prime Minister expressed it well when he said that we cannot change the world single-handedly but we can play a role far greater than our size might suggest. Our parents and grandparents accomplished much throughout the past century in the First and Second World Wars--the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the invention and practical application of United Nations peacekeeping. Canadians are proud and rightfully so of the role that our country plays in the world and of the people who have contributed to that role. And this is the driving force behind our new vision for the Canadian Forces.

We're committed to having a more significant and influential presence in the world, one in which our voice will be heard, our values seen and our efforts felt. The government recognizes that a strong, capable, professional military is essential to the impact that we as a country can have in the world. In fact, we've seen over the past decade in countries around the world that the face of Canada is often that of the men and women of the Canadian Forces. It's been my privilege to see that face in Bosnia, in Afghanistan, in Haiti and with the DART in Sri Lanka. It's a face that is welcome wherever it goes.

I was at an extraordinary event the other day. I was in Ottawa and the Finance Minister of Afghanistan was there and he said to a group of development people that the single greatest contribution to the development in Afghanistan today are the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan that are giving it stability and a sense of a new society. And that is true in so many countries. With our new defence policy statement Canada remains as committed as ever to working with our allies and partners in multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and NATO. We also remain open to participating in less formal coalitions of like-minded states as we've done in East Timor and in the international campaign against terrorism. However, the ability to respond to the challenges of failed and failing states will serve as the benchmark for the Canadian Forces. Failed and failing states pose a dual challenge for Canada. They may seem a long way to us but in the first instance the suffering that those situations create is an affront to Canadian values. Beyond this, they also plant the seeds of threats to national, regional and global security.

They generate refugee flows that threaten the stability of their neighbours and create new political problems for their regions. We've seen this in Kosovo, we've seen it in the Balkans, we've seen it in Afghanistan, and we've seen it in our experience around the world. More ominously, the impotence of their government structures makes them potential breeding grounds or safe havens for terrorism and now organized crime. We've seen this all too clearly today in countries like Afghanistan. One thing however in dealing with these issues that I would like to insist on, because this is an issue that comes up regularly, is that robust, combat-capable military forces are indispensable for Canada to make a real difference in failed and failing states around the world. There are those who think we should become the world's policemen and leave the heavy lifting of actual combat duty to others, but I have to tell you that in failed and failing states the mission is what is often described by the experts today as the Three Block War.

You have to have a military that's capable of meeting combat conditions, defeating an enemy that is determined to kill you and destroying the society where it's operating and you have to be able to have the diplomacy and the ability to reach out and work with the local population and sometimes deliver humanitarian aid. The result is an extremely complex mission for our forces today. They're called upon in an environment where they have very highly technologically advanced weapons to actually act in three capacities and there are those who say they shouldn't have to do all of those things, that it would be simpler if they were just the warriors and other people were just the policemen but the fact of the matter is in these failed and failing states, the mission itself depends on being able to accomplish all of those things.

And so, in many ways I personally believe that Canadians in these forces are particularly apt to do exactly that because they represent our collective values. When they are deployed around the world, they bring our understanding and compassion for others along with them. I believe that as Canadians we have a deeply held respect for human life and property. We've embraced our responses to protect those people who cannot protect themselves and we have strongly urged other countries to do the same. We expect our Armed Forces to act within the rule of law to ensure that no life is threatened beyond what is absolutely required in the situation.

I remember being in Kabul once and talking to a young sergeant who told me about having a youngster point a machine gun at him when he was out on patrol and I said "What did you do?" He said I reached over and just took it away from the young man. I said, "That was kind of risking your own life wasn't it?" He said, "Yes, but it was more important for me to risk taking a bullet than for me to shoot a child," which in the circumstances was right, because the weapon was an imitation weapon but he couldn't have known that when he acted that way. What that story told was that our soldiers know that when they're patrolling the streets of Kabul or when they're on one of these missions, their job is to make sure that they engage the local population in a way that the mission is successful. To shoot first and ask questions later may be the safest thing to do but the mission depends on getting the population on your side and, as you were saying Bart in your introduction, you have to be able to make sure that you create conditions that create peace as well as winning the conflict. I have to tell you that in my view our soldiers are uniquely qualified to do this and are some of the best in the world.

So in addition to the significant new equipment and the regular forces that I spoke of we're going to be able to double our capacity to intervene in these foreign situations thereby lifting up Canada's capacity and its role in the world. And our new defence policy also calls for the creation of a Standing Contingency Force to respond rapidly to emerging crises. This high-readiness task force will be made up of existing, designated maritime, land, air and special operations elements organized under a single integrated command structure. It will be ready to deploy within 10 days' notice and provide an initial Canadian Forces presence to work with security partners to stabilize a crisis or facilitate the deployment of larger follow-on forces.

We will also create a Special Operations Group to respond to terrorism and threats to Canadians and Canadian interests around the world. This group will include JTF2 our special operations aviation capability centred on helicopters and supporting land and maritime forces. Of course, in all of our international military activities we will continue to work very closely with other government departments and agencies such as Foreign Affairs Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency in order to maximize the impact and effectiveness of Canada's involvement in the world. This is an ambitious agenda, ladies and gentlemen, and what it means is it's not just about a statement, it's not just about changing what we do, we're going to change how we do it. We're going to fundamentally change the Canadian Forces to make them more effective, more relevant and more responsive.

We'll become more effective by better integrating maritime, land and air and special forces and changing our command structure. We'll become more relevant by adapting their capacities and force structure to deal with the threats of today and tomorrow particularly for those originating from failed and failing states. This of course means obtaining new capacities such as the mobile gun system and medium-to-heavy lift helicopters that we are now discussing in the military. And finally, the Canadian Forces will become more responsive by enhancing their ability to act quickly in the event of a crisis whether in Canada or around the world. Our military will be capable of arriving on the scene faster, making a rapid transition to operations once there, moving more effectively within a theatre of operations and sustaining deployments in some cases for extended periods. This new vision for the Canadian Forces will lead to a fundamental transformation of our military in the months and years to come and will ensure that the Canadian Forces will be capable of protecting Canadians here and abroad while playing a more significant leadership role in the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, as I have said several times during this speech, it's an historic time for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces and it's a great privilege to have the opportunity to be the Minister of National Defence at this particular time. Everything is now in place for real and lasting change for our military. With the recent federal budget, we've got the resources we need to strengthen our presence and our capacity to defend Canada and Canadians as well as to play a more significant role in the world. We also have the resources and the visionary leadership in the Canadian Forces. I mentioned Rick Hillier but there are others--young general officers and colonels that have seen unparalleled operational experience--who are now at the helm. They intend to fundamentally transform our military into a relevant, responsive and effective team, a team that's made up of some of the world's most dedicated, professional and skilful men and women in uniform and with the new policy statement we've got the intellectual framework required to guide and shape the Canadian Forces to face the defence and security challenges of the 21st century.

So it's with great pleasure that I introduce our defence policy statement to Canadians. I look forward to the discussions that it will engender both in Parliament and across the country. Through the combined efforts that I have outlined I believe that we are building a national institution that Canadians can continue to be proud of and one that will contribute significantly to Canada's security needs for years to come.

The appreciation of the meeting was expressed by Jo-Ann McArthur, President, Molson Sports and Entertainment and Director, The Empire Club of Canada.