Canada wants to expand its strategic military alliances beyond the traditional partners, says National Defence Minister Peter MacKay.In a year-end interview with iPolitics, MacKay said Canada is looking to build stronger strategic partnerships with countries such as Kuwait and Qatar that are outside the “traditional circles.” Expanding relations outside NATO would enable Canada to put a “light footprint” in the region, he said.
“We’re not talking about setting up big full-time infrastructure, but having the ability, in some cases, to land aircraft, store equipment, to deploy in or through another country if need be,” McKay said. “So it has that very basic strategic interest and it also allows us to benefit from others experience and proximity. We’re constantly looking to share information with like-minded countries. There is a criteria to determining who those partners are — and some of it’s based on history, and some of it’s based on more recent history.”
Kuwait and Qatar are small, but strategically important countries in the Gulf region, both are wealthy and under less authoritarian rule than some of their neighbouring countries.
MacKay said Canada is also keen to strengthen ties in the Asia-Pacific region, and that Canada will do more training exercises and soldier and cadet swaps with other non-NATO allies, including Australia and New Zealand.
“The world is getting smaller when it comes to the military,” MacKay said.
Speaking by telephone from Rome, where he was paying a pre-Christmas visit to the crew of HMCS Vancouver on patrol in the Mediterranean, MacKay praised the navy for a job well done as part of NATO’s Operation Unified Protector in Libya. The navy warship is now re-tasked in the region to the counter-terrorism Operation Active Endeavour.
Reflecting on the year past, MacKay cited the Libya mission as a highlight that demonstrated the Canadian Forces can respond quickly and capably in times of crisis. With the international mission “Canadianized” under the command of Lt.-Gen. Charles Bouchard, MacKay said its success enhanced a strong reputation that was already established in Afghanistan, Haiti and other missions.
“This Canadian Forces has really covered itself with glory in recent years, and 2011 was a high tempo of operations by any standard,” he said.
With the wind-down of Canada’s combat mission in Kandahar and transition to a training role in Kabul this year, MacKay said Canadian troops are transferring skills to the Afghan army and police and these skills will have a lasting legacy.
“Their numbers have swelled, their professionalization is happening rapidly,” MacKay said of the Afghan army and police. “This one of the brightest spots in the country right now – the growth and the competence of their security forces.”
Looking to the year ahead, Canada will continue to help increase that security capacity for Afghanistan, while preparing for new “inevitabilities” or missions that arise. MacKay reiterated the position of Prime Minister Stephen Harper that intervention in Syria is unlikely since there is no move in that direction by the United Nations, but said volatility in the mideast region will keep Canada at the ready.
“We’ve taken a lot of lessons on board from Afghanistan and from Haiti and from Libya on top of that,” MacKay said. “This very much assists us in future planning and preparation.”
On the administrative side, the Canadian Forces will continue to build its ranks and refurbish and procure required equipment while undergoing the same cost-saving exercise as every other federal department. The shipbuilding program procurement was a major milestone this year, and will lead to jobs for years to come.
As for goals for 2012, MacKay wants a continued commitment to support physically and psychologically injured soldiers, and to ensure the Canadian Forces continues to grow as a “family-friendly” organization — a transition he sees as important for personnel retention and morale.
“Our soldiers, sailors, air men and women are happiest when they know when they’re on the job, or deployed, that their families are going to be taken care of. So we’ve modernized, we’ve become a much more inclusive organization, a more modern, flexible, deployable military, and we’ll continue to do that,” he said. “We’ll continue to have the support of the prime minister, the resources necessary, and I think a lot of progress was made when one considers 2011.”
Original Article
Source: iPolitico
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