"Foreign Policy From the Comfort of the Couch"

July 16, 2003

It’s easy to criticize, condemn and preach about a subject once you’ve made certain no one will be able to call upon you to put your own words into action.  

Take Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and his government for instance. The Liberals seem to think they have little to lose in slamming the international security policies of the world’s most powerful nations, particularly the United States.  

It’s not as though the U.S. or Britain realistically expect Canada to be able to follow through on Mr. Chrétien’s lectures on how to ensure world peace.  His government has deprived Canada’s armed forces of the resources necessary to mount the kind of military interventions he advocates for settling heated conflicts around the world. 

The U.S. and other countries which are careful to sustain their defence capabilities are growing weary of watching Mr. Chrétien and like-minded Liberals sit back and tell them what to do with the military might their taxpayers are bankrolling.  No less irritating are the Prime Minister’s erratic and contradictory theories on international intervention. 

The Liberals say it was okay to launch military action in Kosovo.  It was not okay in Iraq.  But it might be okay in African nations.   The hypocrisy is startling.  How can the Liberal government presume to tell the Americans where to direct their troops while consistently demonstrating that it believes military spending to be an undesirable government expenditure? 

Earlier this year, our Prime Minister even bragged Canada is superior to the U.S. because his government spends tax dollars on domestic social programs while the U.S. government invests heavily in national defence.  Mr. Chrétien is quick to smugly criticize U.S. President George W. Bush for incurring deficits, yet his government has also advocated military intervention for humanitarian purposes.  

How does Mr. Chrétien think such missions would be funded?  Mr. Chrétien and former Finance Minister Paul Martin may boast of eliminating deficits, but they were able to do it by over-taxing Canadians and neglecting Canada’s defence capabilities.  And they were only able to do that because the same U.S. military spending that Mr. Chrétien finds so unpalatable will ultimately protect Canada against attack.   

It’s an unfortunate reality that there is both a human and monetary price for peace.  The Canadian Alliance believes an investment of an additional $1.2-billion in defence spending is required immediately.  Two world wars have taught us that freedom is best ensured by being prepared, vigilant and ready to intervene early. 

The international community used to listen to Canada’s views on peace, security and humanitarianism because we were also willing to pull our weight and put our theories into action!  Sadly, the federal Liberals have relegated Canada to the side-lines in world affairs.  Their smug and hollow preachings have further damaged our relationship with our largest trading partner, as demonstrated by the softwood lumber dispute and the continued ban on Canadian beef.  

It seems Americans have no more tolerance for "armchair critics" than Canadians do!