The United States military is deployed in more than 150 countries around the world. Despite being spread so widely, fewer than 400,000 of the approximately 1.5 million active-duty personnel are serving outside the US and its territories. The major places should be obvious – Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. It’s not hard to imagine how the expression ‘Yankee, Go Home’ arose. It’s not hard to imagine why the US is resented around the world.

Although its closest neighbour – Canada – has traditionally been seen as a quiet ally of the US, it has tended to shy away from intruding in foreign countries like its big brother to the south. That’s about to change.

While there is no way Canada could ever become a US-style military behemoth, it is about to start opening up military branch plants in foreign countries. The government announced this in May, with the same degree of solemnity they would give to opening a new shopping mall. Although government officials put on their serious faces when they talk about these things, the ‘ain’t-we-tough-guys’ smirk behind their words is clear to see.

Canada declined to join George Bush the Younger’s ‘coalition of the willing’ in Iraq, with great fanfare in Canada and a surge of Canadian pride that the government had stood up to pretty aggressive pressure from Washington. The fact is, though, that Canada did indeed send troops to Iraq – some as logistical staff, some under the American flag.

Canada has been engaged in Afghanistan since 2002. Initially, the only task was logistical support; but they undertook a much larger role in 2006, deploying combat troops to Kandahar. As early as 2008, though, the government served notice of its intent to withdraw in July 2011. In fact, while some troops might go home, a large contingent will remain on the ground, tasked with training the Afghan police and army. Let’s not get into a discussion here of whether there is any point to that exercise.

Peacekeepers

There is an enduring Canadian mythology that the country’s traditional role is keeping the peace in troubled spots. Indeed, the very concept of a peacekeeping force is believed to derive from a former Canadian prime minister, Lester Pearson, who received a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts – the only Canadian to ever be so honoured. He was the founder of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) that was deployed in 1956 to help bring peace in Egypt, following the so-called Suez Crisis.

Most Canadians couldn’t begin to tell you what is meant by the word ‘peacekeeping’, but they’re sure that’s what Canada does. So let’s look at how the United Nations describes it:

The United Nations defines peacekeeping as "the deployment of international military and civilian personnel to a conflict area with the consent of the parties to the conflict in order to: stop or contain hostilities or supervise the carrying out of a peace agreement." While this definition serves as a useful reference point, no single definition of peacekeeping exists. Peacekeeping continues to evolve as new conflicts arise and demands to resolve them are increasingly placed on the UN.

Since the late 1940s, Canada has indeed contributed to more than 50 missions that fit that description, and it has lost the second highest number of peacekeepers in the line of duty. But at the current time, its commitment stands at 55^th out of 108 troop-contributing nations, and its financial contribution is very small.

Canada’s military efforts around the world these days are generally in combat or what is euphemistically known as ‘nation-building’. But, in fact, war is big business for Canada.

Merchants of death

Canada’s image, and purpose, is undergoing an overhaul. Its tour of duty in Afghanistan will end shortly, but the government is already preparing for its next deployment with a measure of glee that Canada will be seen as playing with the big kids. They have already reached agreements, in recent months, to open military bases in Germany and Jamaica; there are ongoing negotiations for further bases in Senegal, South Korea, Kenya, and Singapore. Defense Minister Peter MacKay claims that Canada has become a ‘go-to nation’ for response to natural disasters and NATO/UN missions, and he says this needs a much larger boot print. Hence the need for military bases abroad. And much bigger boots.

But even before expanding its militarism, Canada has been quietly serving as a merchant of death. Although it is extremely hard to find exact numbers, due to deliberate government obfuscation, it is known that Canada is the world’s sixth largest supplier of weaponry. Not bad for a country with a smaller population than the state of California.

Most Canadians are oblivious to the efforts of its government to get a big piece of the action in the killing business. But to the extent that Canadians know anything at all about the military industry, they are assured by the federal government that strict guidelines are in place to ‘control’ the flow of weapons systems – but not actually stop them. Because of these flexible guidelines, Canada finds its weapons, or weapon components, in high demand, not only by foreign governments engaged in wars (sometimes against their own people) but also by ‘business-friendly’ régimes that oppress their populations through threats, intimidation, and the omnipresence of local brutal security forces.

Canada reports, through a variety of agencies, what weapons, or parts of weapons, are produced; but it is a Gordian knot trying to determine exactly what has gone where. The various agencies report various things, and it is clear that some reporting is deliberately evasive. For instance, Canada ships helicopters to the army in Colombia but doesn’t list this as ‘military equipment’ because the weaponry is not installed in them. The weaponry is shipped to the US as components where it is assembled and sent to Colombia separately.

Part of the problem is that the United States receives about 80% of the weapons and weapons-related materiel produced by Canada, and they then ship it or use it wherever it suits them. This hides the contribution Canada makes in arming some of the worst dictators and brutish régimes, allowing the US to take credit/blame for it. But it is known that, directly or indirectly, Canada supplies munitions to at least 107 countries that it claims are ‘restricted’ nations.

This is a multi-billion dollar industry for Canada, and it’s one that is only likely to increase under the present Conservative government. Although this government is now five years in power, it is only since May 2011 that it has had a majority and is able to act with very little restraint. We have already seen Canada declaring its intent to move further to the right, stepping up to do its part in helping the United States continue its role as the world’s biggest bully.

So a few Canadian companies will gain increased wealth, government and military officials will pat themselves on the back for being decisive and tough – and the rest of the world will pay the price. Thank God for Canada!

Notes:
As stated, finding consistent and credible data about Canada's arms shipments is anything but easy. While I was able to locate some sources, I was greatly assisted by the article Stoking the Tsunamis of War and Repression: Canada's military exports arm world's most belligerent nations. This fine article by Richard Sanders appears in the May 2011 edition of The CCPA Monitor and can be found online here.

Paul Richard Harris is an Axis of Logic editor and columnist, based in Canada. He can be reached at paul@axisoflogic.com

Read the Biography and additional articles by Axis Columnist, Paul Richard Harris