Canada: Pivot to Where?
By In my latest at the Diplomat I offer unsolicited, probably unwelcome advice to our neighbor to the north:
NATO, and the capabilities that Canada has developed in order to effectively participate in NATO operations, will likely hold less relevance for Canadian strategic interests in the future than it has in the past. In particular, the decision to pursue the F-35 seems questionable. Canada initially expected to purchase 65 F-35s for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The procurement of these aircraft would represent an enormous commitment of Canadian financial resources, and would result in a small, high end Air Force not particularly well-suited to managing any of Canada’s apparent security needs. RCAF F-35s may well perform very impressively at the forefront of NATO’s next bombing campaign over Serbia, but given the high expense, the Canadian people probably need a better rationale. Little wonder then that the Harper government is reevaluating the purchase of these jets.