CCS21 Chair's Closing Statement:
Mission accomplished. The Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century will be closing down at the end of this month.
On its founding in November 2001, the Council had one over-riding priority: ‘a comprehensive review of Canadian defence and security policy, including Canada’s overseas commitments, defence expenditures, and the overall structure and management of the Canadian Forces.’ There had been no such review since 1994, despite the rapid and menacing changes in the world scene that unfolded even as that document appeared. In September 2002, we increased the pressure: ‘It is difficult to resist the conclusion that Canada’s leaders appear more interested in their internecine struggles for control of the governing party than in the long-term security of their citizens.’
In April 2005, the Liberal government released A Role of Pride and Influence in the World: Canada’s International Policy Statement, which, as we had strongly urged, treated defence in the context of the whole range of Canadian international relations and domestic security concerns.
Still, the Council’s reaction was cautious. The devil is in the details – and the funding. As our update of September 2002 had declared: ‘the purpose of a comprehensive defence and security review is not to produce yet another set of generic environmental assessments and policy pronouncements. The primary objective is for the government and the Canadian people to confront the growing challenges that face the Canadian Forces honestly and to manage the current crisis in rational, balanced, and non-partisan manner.’
The Liberal government’s budget for fiscal year 2005-6 promised substantial new spending for the forces, but the bulk of it was three years or more in the future. There was, however, bipartisan support for the program. In 2006 the new Conservative government accelerated and expanded the increases in funding. That proved to be a sustained commitment. In March of this year, I commented on the Council’s behalf in the Globe and Mail on the federal budget for 2007-8: ‘The estimates allocate $16.9 billion for defence in 2007-8, an increase of $1 billion compared to 2006-7, a growth of some 7.3 percent, the biggest increase in over twenty years and a remarkable turnaround since the annual estimates of less than $12 billion less than five years ago... The increase gave substance to the newly elected government’s “Canada First” defence plan of May 2006 to provide $5.3 billions in new spending to defence over the next five years. This would address the most urgent priorities in re-establishing “Effective Combat-Capable Integrated Forces,” one of the Conservative’s election pledges.’
A comprehensive policy statement, three years of greatly increased funding to support it, large new capital, recruiting and ‘transformation’ programs that promise continued action, are just a beginning. But it was to trigger that beginning that the Council was established.
The Council has been heard. The Council’s monthly commentaries by Nick Boisvert and, more recently, Jack Granatstein (our founding chair), have been widely republished and remarked upon in the media. Both writers, and I, have drawn heavily upon the first class contributions by many among our more than 1500 members on our web discussion board. It is you, the members, who gave voice, with clarity and precision, to the concern many Canadians felt just a few years ago when, according to the best-selling book by journalist Andrew Cohen, ‘Canada Slept.’
My thanks to you all for your support. In part because of the efforts of the Council, there is now robust and widespread commentary on foreign and defence policy in this country. My own institution, the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, has joined a network of other associations for new initiatives that include conferences and publications on Canadian policy towards failed and failing states. I would urge that we all continue to remain active in the diverse forums now available.
Roger Sarty
