“Rebooting the whole conversation” on militarism requires discussing alternative conceptions of security, Canadian force’s actual focus and the roots of great power conflicts. While some of this will be difficult for Avi Lewis, it’s essential to challenging Mark Carney’s historic increase in military spending.
The NDP leader’s recent comments on military affairs have received significant attention. In a widely shared clip/meme, Lewis told Rachel Gilmore the US is “the major threat to Canada’s security today”, which can’t be dealt with militarily. “So don’t use our fear of the US to just create a whole new military industrial complex … I’m for rebooting the whole conversation.”
In the interview Lewis effectively articulated a different conception of security from the one offered by Mark Carney in justifying an unprecedented increase in war spending. Lewis pointed out that Carney’s $100 billion attack submarine purchase could cover nearly a decade of pharmaceutical costs for all Canadians. It should be relatively easy for Lewis and the NDP to offer a more compelling use of the resources Carney is ploughing into warfare by promoting ideas such as “subways not submarines” or “housing not howitzers”.
But seriously challenging Carney’s extreme military spending requires a broader critique. People need to understand that Canada’s military is not structured to defend this country but to assist the US war machine. Begun as the British force that conquered Turtle Island, since World War II Canada’s military has become the force most integrated with that of the US.
Canada has hundreds of military accords with the US and Canadian soldiers are stationed with the US across the globe. On Friday Christy Somos reported that Canadian Colonel David K. Turenne oversaw core air operations at the massive US military base in Qatar during last summer’s US/Israeli attacks on Iran. Turenne was even awarded the Canadian Force’s Meritorious Service Cross for his role as director of the Combined Air Operations Centre during the 12-day war.
Days after the US and Israel attacked Iran in February Canada’s base in Kuwait was hit during a strike on a US compound. With around 200 troops, the Canadian base is part of a network of international bases — in Senegal, Germany and Jamaica — set up over the past 15 years to “project combat power” under the Pentagon’s direction.
Alongside describing the military’s actual orientation and offering a different conception of security, “rebooting the whole conversation” requires questioning the great power tensions Carney is exploiting to promote militarism. This will be difficult for Lewis. He can safely criticize Trump’s policy in Iran or Venezuela, but has not pushed back on China and, most significantly, Russia. Canada/US/NATO contributed to provoking Russia’s illegal invasion and have prolonged the horrible war in Ukraine. To undercut Carney’s extreme militarism requires discussing this reality, which may be more pressing than ever. In recent days The Globe and Mail, New York Times and other corporate outlets have published stories about the merging of the Ukraine and Iran wars. That’s exceedingly dangerous.
To back away from the simplistic, anti-Russian, perspective Canada/NDP has promulgated, Lewis can turn to a former NDP foreign affairs critic and a former prime minister.
While verboten today, then NDP foreign critic Paul Dewar (subsequently) criticized Canada’s role in the 2014 coup against elected, neutral minded, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, which led to the civil war in the east, seizure of Crimea and massively escalated NATO/Russian tensions. According to staunch militarist reporter Murray Brewster, then “NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar was shocked by the recounting of events and demanded the RCMP investigate the security breach. He accused the government of covering up the incident and endangering the lives of not only embassy staff, but Canadian citizens in the country.” Dewar was responding to evidence that activists used the Canadian embassy, which was immediately adjacent to Maidan square, as a safe haven for “at least a week” at the height of the protests that toppled Yanukovich. The protesters gained access to a mini-van and other Canadian material. In a story written a year after the coup, Brewster quoted officials from allied European nations accusing Canada of being “an active participant in regime change.”
Lewis could also echo former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. In a speech on the sidelines of last summer’s G7 summit in Alberta, Chretien raised the importance of talking with Russia and 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.’” The former prime minister’s insights should influence Lewis’ bid to “reboot the whole conversation” on militarism.
To successfully reorient the NDP towards peace requires a willingness to stop listening solely to promoters of war and weapons making.
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