This week two Russian bombers approached Canadian airspace about 450 km off the coast of Newfoundland. The bombers were spotted by NORAD and two Canadian CF-18s were dispatched to intercept the pair of TU-95 Bears, according to a report in the Globe and Mail.

Nothing became of it, and the Russians claimed it was part of a training exercise and Canadian airspace was never breached.

This is the type of activity that former CF-18 pilot, Maj.-Gen. Tom Lawson, was telling me about last week. The saber-rattling is becoming less of a transparent choreography—as he put it—and more secretive on the part of the Russians.

Of course, we must ask how often these types of things happen, and how often the Canadian Forces decides to report on them. Curious to have the Canadian Air Force in the news at the very same time the government is trying to drum up support for the $16 billion-dollar strike fighter project.

*According to the Globe’s Daniel Leblanc it didn’t take long for the incident—one that occurs around a dozen times per year—to make it into the Conservatives Friday talking points as evidence supporting the highly contested F-35 procurement.

With their military having spent the better part of a decade amongst insurgents, improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers, Canadians have arguably become accustomed to the idea that future wars will largely consist of low-intensity counterinsurgency conflicts. As a result, many are questioning the government’s recent decision to purchase 65 stealth strike fighters—a fleet of planes that would not have been used by Canadians in Afghanistan, and instead conjures images of Cold War arms races.

The Canadian Forces expect to have 65 of the F-35 stealth strike fighters operational by 2016 at a cost potentially surpassing $16 billion. Credit: DND

Yet when he was appointed Canada’s most recent foreign minister in October 2008, Lawrence Cannon received a stack of briefing documents prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Tucked into one section was a page that discussed the global political and security environment. China figured prominently.

Click here to read the rest of this feature at Embassy magazine

Paul Stothart is excited.

Last year, iron ore and coal alone accounted for nearly $1.6 billion in Canadian exports to China. This represented $1 billion more than in 2008, continuing a trend that has become a major boon for Canada’s mining sector.

“Everything in our industry is driven by China,” said Mr. Stothart, vice-president of economic affairs at the Mining Association of Canada, explaining that world mineral prices for copper, nickel, zinc and uranium are largely set by—increasing—Chinese demand for raw minerals.

The Middle Kingdom looms just as large for Andrew Casey, vice-president of foreign affairs and international trade at the Forestry Producers Association of Canada.

“It’s been a brutal couple of years,” he said, adding that the ongoing downturn in the US housing industry has had a dramatic impact on Canada’s forestry industry. He predicts that long-term economic sustainability for the sector will ultimately arrive only from diversification. A comprehensive approach to selling Canadian forest products, he said, includes Asia.

Click here to read the rest of the story at Embassy magazine.

Throughout Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, many have complained that the public is not receiving sufficient information from the field about the military and its operations.

Certainly journalists have stepped up to the plate to provide what the government often does not. Opinions differ, however, on whether that reporting has been comprehensive enough, and if not, then who is to blame for such scarcity.

Last Wednesday, Senators Romeo Dallaire and Pamela Wallin, co-chairs of the Senate’s National Security and Defence committee, offered an answer: The media.

During a briefing detailing their findings in an interim report on “Canada’s present and future role in Afghanistan”—they concluded that Canada should continue to train Afghan security forces beyond 2011, and encouraged Parliament to revisit the debate over extending the pullout date—the senators found themselves in a discussion over the quality of media coverage.

Click here to read the rest of the story at Embassy magazine

The Liberal party of Canada received some good advice on Sunday.

While addressing a Liberal policy conference in Montreal, former Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler had harsh, yet warranted criticism of Canada’s flailing and selfish foreign policy.

With Michael Ignatieff in attendance, Fowler attacked the Conservative and Liberal parties alike. (more…)

An Ottawa law professor claims to have discovered un-redacted documents pointing towards Canadian military wrongdoing.

While digging deep into the Afghan detainee controversy, Amir Attaran says that he found government documents ordering Canadian prisoners to be tortured by their Afghan handlers in order to gain intelligence.

If what Attaran is claiming turns out to be true, Canada could be found to have committed war crimes.

Securing North America?

Beyond the immediate legal and political repercussions for the Canadian government, there could be lasting consequences for future military cooperation between the U.S. and Canada.

Already reeling from high Canadian military losses, and billions of dollars of war expenses, this scandal could contribute to Canadians’ fatigue with extended combat missions.

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As delegates from Canada and the European Union continue negotiations of the comprehensive economic and free trade agreement in Brussels, supply management in the Canadian dairy industry appears to be secure.

From his farm near Chemainus on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, long-time dairyman Wally Smith points out the need for Canadians to uphold the current business model of what he calls orderly marketing in Canadian dairy.

Courtesy of Creative Commons. By Martijn vdS

“Farmers across the world are in dire straits,” said Smith, whose farm has been in his family since 1959.  “We hope that our system will remain in tact.”

Supply Management

Smith, who maintains a herd of nearly 70 cows, feels that the current dairy business model administered by the B.C. Milk Marketing Board maintains viability for Canadian producers throughout economic turbulence, and also ensures that dairy prices for consumers are standard across the country.

Since the early 1970s, the marketing board has regulated milk production through quotas that balance production and consumption throughout the year. It also licenses producers, transporters and processors, and establishes the price that processors pay farmers for their milk, while preventing foreign products from being dumped into Canadian markets.

Politics and Agriculture

“The B.C. dairy industry operates on a good business model,” said Steve Thomson, B.C.’s minister of agriculture and lands, in an emailed statement. “Our dairy industry is profitable, well-capitalized, and produces a safe and high-quality product. The strength of this industry shows that supply management works.” (more…)

Just over one week has passed since 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate a chemical explosive aboard Northwest Airlines flight 253, and already the consequences for his actions are being felt across the globe.

In the nine days following the failed attack we find ourselves facing a reinvigorated battle against terror. New enemies, new threats, new fronts, and new opinions on how to protect ourselves against an ambiguous foe are resulting in problematic solutions to complex problems.

Nationality profiling at security checkpoints

In a contradictory move, new so-called random security screening at airports will be adjusted. According to a CBC story, citizens of Nigeria, Yemen, Pakistan, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria will be among 14 nationalities that will experience increased scrutiny at U.S. security checkpoints beginning today. (more…)

Omar Khadr may be leaving Guantanamo, but he is not heading to Canada.

It is expected that President Obama will announce today that over one hundred detainees — including Khadr — will be transferred to an Illinois detention centre, marking one of the first steps taken to diminish the use of the illegal U.S. military prison.

Obama said in his first week as President that he intended to close the prison; later admitting that his objective would probably be delayed.

Prisoners started arriving at Guantanamo Bay in 2002, and it continues to hold hundreds of enemy combatants. According to Amnesty International, detainees have suffered torture, abuse, and other human rights violations. Problems such as indefinite detainment, and lack of access to legal representation mark the prison as illegitimate and ad hoc.

Khadr, now 22, has been held as an unlawful combatant by U.S. military authorities since his capture as a 15-year-old in Afghanistan in 2002.

It is expected that Khadr will now sit trial facing a U.S. military commission.

Hundred of detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, while organizations like Amnesty International in Canada continue to call for his return to his home country to face trial within the Canadian legal framework.

The Canadian government has refused to repatriate Khadr despite increasing public outcry.

Long have Canadians and our governments been a guiding force in international relations, diplomacy and policy. Unfortunately, this distinction is quickly fading, and three issues rose to the forefront of the news this week; taking a bite out of our reputation in the international community.

One: The Afghan detainee confusion. Canadian diplomat, Richard Colvin, testified last week that between 2006 and 2007 Afghan detainees that were transferred by Canadian military personnel to Afghan officials probably suffered torture.

While working in Afghanistan, he filed reports of abuse based on second-hand evidence that stated that many – perhaps all – of the transferred detainees were mistreated. Colvin went on to accuse senior Canadian officials of attempting to censor his reports, thereby allowing the torture to continue.

The government response was led by Defence Minister, Peter MacKay, who stated that the government was aware of the situation as early as 2006, and renegotiated a prisoner transfer agreement with Afghan authorities in response to the torture allegations.

Former General of military operations in Afghanistan, Rick Hillier, denied ever reading the reports, and considered the accusations of Colvin to be unfounded.

The Canadian chapter of Amnesty International requested a full public inquiry, and meanwhile, the international Red Cross criticized Colvin for including them in his testimony – an action, they say, that compromises their primary concern which is communicating directly with those in need.

Lost in the cacophony of political accusations, partisanship and excuses, are the human rights implications. A full public inquiry may be the only way to bring the issue of torture and human rights back to the forefront. (more…)