The world is a tumultuous place, with wars breaking out across the globe on a yearly and even monthly basis.  In many countries, security is merely a dream – and has been out of reach for decades, but fortunately for us here in Canada, conflict has remained off of our soil for over a century.  Because Canada is one of the safest countries in the world, some question the need for retaining a military force at all.  If we are not in need – what is the point.  We are currently involved in war, but none of the conflicts affect our home, so why should we bother – money spent on the military could easily be used to improve other aspects of the country.  Nevertheless, this blog post will present reasons as to why the military plays such a critical role for Canada, even if we are one of the safest countries in the world, as it asserts Canada’s independence on a global level.

1. Military activity protects Canadian sovereignty –  By giving up the armed forces, Canada will have no way to truly enforce its control over dangerous affairs at home and around the world.  Without a military, the Canadian government will be forced to rely on the help of other actors – be it other countries, or private contractors – when issues get out of hand and require physical intervention.  If such an event were to occur, the government would be placing its authority to truly “rule” the country into the hands of others.

2. Canada is a global power, and by giving up the military, we have the potential to lose that status – There are currently only 21 countries in the world with either no military, or extremely limited armed forces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_without_armed_forces), and the majority of these nations are extremely small in size, with limited roles to play in the international system.  Many of these nations were former dependencies that have become sovereign states, but who still rely on others to protect them.  Furthermore, the states’ limited size prevents them from really posing a threat to other nations, and keeps them from being threatened.  Canada does not have this relationship with the world – it is an economic and political leader, and while not in the same category as say the US or China, it does fall into the second tier of world powers, and as such, should retain this status in all aspects – including defense.  Getting rid of the military removes Canada’s from being on par with the global elite, and instead places it alongside many of the globes more “forgotten” nations so to speak.

3. The inability to defend ourselves will increase our reliance on the United States – Canada and the US currently share an extremely close relationship, similar to siblings you could say.  Many of Canada’s policies and decisions are influenced heavily by the United States, but we do retain the right to make our own decisions independent of the US.  Like the American War in Iraq – despite US and British involvement – Canada did not declare war, nor did they send troops to the area.  Even though the US holds major sway, Canada reserves the right to make major decisions on its own accord.  If we got rid of the military however, we would likely turn to the US for assistance when it was required, and our relationship would shift from one of brothers, on equal terms, to that of a parent and child where one protects in exchange for the other’s obedience.  The US would become much more involved in our external affairs, and because they were our “protector”, they would influence our internal affairs on a much greater level as well.

Ultimately – Canada needs to retain its military presence in order to protect its strong and independent status on the global level.   Eliminating it would reduce our ability to control our own affairs, lessening our status to one of a near dependency because of our intense relationship with the US.