Jean Chrétien is far more sensible on Russia than NDP “resistance leader” Charlie Angus. The former prime minister’s insights can help the party defend social services.
In a speech last week about the G7 summit in Alberta, Chretien raised the importance of talking with Russia. He said, “It’s always good to talk, you can’t go on your high horse with any problem. We don’t talk to (the Russians) anymore.”
Verboten in official politics, Chrétien also mentioned what (largely) provoked the war. According to the Calgary Herald, “He said Putin made it clear his concern about NATO’s perceived encroachment on parts of the former Soviet Union. ‘(Putin said) that was too close for comfort… I discussed that for one-and-a-half hours.’”
(Interestingly, Chretien initiated Canada’s aggressive push to expand NATO despite earlier promises to Soviet officials against moving “one inch” eastward. Soon after taking office in 1993 Chretien began promoting Poland’s adhesion to NATO. A 1994 Edmonton Journal article reported, “Prime Minister Jean Chretien said Sunday the U.S. plan doesn’t move fast enough to incorporate Poland and some other countries into the 16-member NATO military alliance.”)
In contrast to Chretien’s call for discussions with Moscow, former NDP MP Charlie Angus criticized Donald Trump for instigating peace negotiations with Russia. In the article the leader of “The Resistance” was quoted saying, “Prime Minister Carney is welcoming in Vladimir Putin’s sock puppet who’ll have the best seat in the key negotiations in (the G7).”
Of all Trump’s odious positions that Angus could be critiquing, Angus is attacking the US president’s pursuit of peace in Ukraine and detente with Russia.
Angus’ position is a threat to Canadians wellbeing. Promoting the NATO proxy war has undercut the NDP’s ability to oppose cuts to social entitlements. After so many years of demonizing Russia it’s difficult for the NDP to reject the military industrial complex’s rapidly escalating push to transfer greater public resources to war spending. Last week Mark Carney announced a plan to reach NATO’s spending target of 2% of GDP on the military by next year. Yet at next week’s NATO summit the prime minister will be under significant pressure to go far beyond that already ghastly threshold. NATO member states will be pressed to commit to spending 5% of GDP on ‘defence’. According to reports, the new plan for the alliance is to devote 3.5% of GDP to “hard military” initiatives by 2030 and 1.5% more for infrastructure and defence-related activities.
With Carney’s recent $9 billion boost to the military and some creative accounting, Canada’s ‘defence’ spending is set reach $62 billion next year. Attaining the 3.5% of GDP target would boost military spending to nearly $110 billion and the 5% target would be $160 billion (slightly more by 2030).
The plan to spend 2% of GDP on the military will almost certainly lead to cutbacks in entitlements. Spending 5% of GDP on ‘defence’ would all but require slashing social services.
Prior to the NATO summit the NDP should declare publicly that any commitment to the 3.5/5% of spending would prompt the party to call for Canada to withdraw from the alliance. If reallocating $100 billion from social services to the military doesn’t prompt a social democratic party to call for Canada out of NATO what would? Spending 10% of GDP on the military?
Amidst this coming assault on Canadians’ wellbeing Chretien offers some useful historical context. In My Years as Prime Minister he wrote, “Every government is under constant pressure to spend more and more on defence. In our case, the pressure came from the American government, which wanted us to carry more of the load in NORAD and NATO, as well as from the arms merchants, military lobbyists for whom no amount of money is ever enough. The Canadian Forces always claim it needed more tanks, and guns, more submarines and destroyers, more bombers and helicopters, but I wasn’t sure that its self-interest was the same as the national interest.”
Chretien’s insights into militarism and geopolitics should assist the NDP. It’s time for the party to ditch NATO warmongering and talk about “Canadians’ wellbeing not the war machine.”
Please take a minute to tell Carney to invest in Canadians’ wellbeing not the war machine.
Support Yves’ work. Donate Now.
