Monday, September 09, 2002

A review of the Canadian military by a group of prominent civilians and retired soldiers turned up some dire warnings.

NEWS STORY
Military on verge of collapse - report
Broad group accuses Liberals of 'neglect of duty'

Sheldon Alberts, Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief
National Post


Monday, September 09, 2002
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OTTAWA - In an ambitious and blunt review of Canada's military readiness, a group of the country's most prominent civilians and retired soldiers accuse the Chrétien government of being derelict in its duty to protect Canadians and warn the Armed Forces are on the brink of collapse.

The Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century, in a report to be released today, concludes that Ottawa has shown itself since the Sept. 11 attacks to be uninterested in improving the military.

As a consequence, the group says, Canada is at risk of becoming unable to defend its territory and ceding sovereignty to the United States as the Pentagon prepares to launch a continental defence program next month.

"For Canada not to have started to address the purpose, nature and configuration of its defence and security establishment in a coherent, co-ordinated and comprehensive way one full year after September 11 -- the single most catastrophic security event on North American soil in the history of either North American nation -- can no longer be qualified as 'benign.' It is neglect of duty," the group says in its 39-page report.

"It is difficult to resist the conclusion that Canada's leaders appear more interested in their internecine struggles for control of the governing party than in the long-term security of their citizens. That the government is, at a bare minimum, completely disinterested in its men and women in uniform, there can be no doubt."

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