Our Military And Intelligence Communities Can Use Some Bulking Up

If the Americans feel they're spending too much on the military budget, it can be argued (and it is) Canadians are under spending.

1% of our budget goes into our military. I wonder if part of the reason is tied into the psychological fact we live next to the United States. Canada's military standing continues to erode, while the U.S. maintains its top billing.

The Americans are at 4%. In percentage terms it's not a whole lot. In gross total dollars it's staggering because of the size of its economy. Still. Is 4% that much?

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Having a small army is tough given our activity on the world stage. Canada really doesn't push itself on the "hard" power angle. What happens? We get spanked at the UN as we did when we lost a seat on the security council to Portugal of all countries.

We want to exert sovereignty in the Arctic but don't really have the muscle and resources to do it. Rather than purchase ships, planes and helicopters, why not just build them ourselves? Don't we have the talent and technology?

I mentioned Potash in an earlier post. Natural resources are the stuff of gold these days and if you believe some authors and commentators, wars for these resources, of which we have in abundance, will increase. Is Canada prepared for that?

I heard on the radio the other day how CSIS -  barely 30 years old - which unlike its European and American counterparts like the CIA, don't carry weapons and have to work with local police forces (ie OPP, SQ and RCMP) to arrest criminals. CSIS is more like the FBI but even then, its powers seem pretty narrow.

When will we expand its powers given the reality of homegrown and international terrorist cells active within our borders? Why do we rely on Interpol and the CIA for intelligence relating to our national security? Should we not field our own spies to focus on this?

I know Canada is considered young, if not immature, but at some point if we want to hang out with the big boys we have to act like it.