For years, people in the defence community have been warning that the next big war would be a “come as you are” event — with each nation showing up and fighting with what it has.
The difference between victory and defeat would depend on how quickly and effectively a country could mobilize and manoeuvre its forces.
That sort of mentality permeated the Cold War. It divided Europe into two heavily armed camps for decades and cast a long shadow of nuclear terror across three generations.
The tanks, barbed wire and big guns have been gone since the early 1990s. The Liberal government’s recent activation of 3,400 soldiers, sailors and aircrew for duty with the NATO Response Force (NRF) brought with it a chilling echo of those long-ago times.
It also exposed some of the major shortfalls facing the Canadian military in both personnel and equipment.
The Canadian Army, for example, has no dedicated air defence to keep soldiers on the ground safe from attack helicopters and fighter-bombers. As former army commander and now chief of the defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre told CBC News two years ago, Canada relies on its allies for that kind of protection.
According to several defence analysts, Canada’s four-decade old CF-18s would be vulnerable to Russia’s modern S-400 Triumf air defence system.
The Royal Canadian Navy, with its newly modernized frigates, is hamstrung when it comes to forming task forces because it has no dedicated replenishment ship that can enter a combat zone (the leased supply ship MV Asterix is prevented from doing so by contract).
Canada’s current military representative at NATO, Vice-Admiral Scott Bishop, focused on the positive while testifying before a House of Commons committee on Wednesday. He was asked about the serviceability of the fighter jet fleet and noted the country has been called upon to perform a number of NATO air policing missions.
A firefighter walks among rubble in a building entrance after shelling by Russian forces in Constitution Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city, on March 2, 2022. (Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images)
“We get a lot of credit from our allies for the job our men and women are doing in those missions,” Bishop said. “I would say we do not see any impact in terms of our ability to deliver to NATO what we have committed.”
When asked recently about the possible commitment of thousands of additional military members to Europe, Defence Minister Anita Anand said Canada has the capacity to meet its alliance commitments, even with its relatively small force of roughly 65,000 regular members and 30,000 reservists.
But there’s a difference between military capacity and sustainability.
The pandemic’s effects on military readiness
In 2019-20, before the pandemic hit, the Department of National Defence (DND) estimated that 80.3 per cent of the military could meet its operational obligations when called upon, according to federal budget documents tabled last spring. A target of 100 per cent readiness was to be achieved by 2025.
But COVID-19 has played havoc with the training exercises and courses meant to keep soldiers, sailors and aircrew ready and sharp.
Exactly how the pandemic has affected military operational readiness is not clear because the department says no up-to-date figures are available. Personnel may be generally ready to go, but there are concerns about the state of Canada’s military equipment.
WATCH | Former special forces commander breaks down Russia’s attack on Kyiv
Analyzing Russia’s strategy as convoy stalls north of Kyiv
20 hours ago
Duration 8:28
Steve Day, a former special ops officer with Canada’s Joint Task Force 2, says the Russian convoy north of Kyiv may be experiencing logistical problems, but its attack on the city would be ‘horrendous’ if it reaches its target. 8:28
“There is a risk that DND/CAF may have difficulty maintaining its materiel capabilities at the right level to support operations,” the defence department’s plans warned.
The budget documents show that in 2019-20, 98 per cent of the navy’s ships and equipment were serviceable and ready to deploy as required.
Army, air force see decline in readiness
The army and air force were a different story. Only 65.4 per cent of army equipment and vehicles were considered serviceable — a steep decline from the previous budget year. The air force could muster only 60.8 per cent of its fleet for active service in the 2019-20 timeframe.
Canadian troops in Afghanistan used a phrase cribbed from the Americans to describe the Ottawa establishment’s approach to the war: “The army is at war and the nation is at the mall.”
It’s that peacetime mentality that one former top army commander says Canada needs to set aside as it confronts the current crisis.
Retired lieutenant-general Andrew Leslie says the stakes for Ukraine and the world are unimaginably high. (CBC)
Retired lieutenant-general and former Liberal MP Andrew Leslie said previous Liberal and Conservative governments did move swiftly in some cases to equip the army for Afghanistan — but the effort quickly bogged down.
It took an independent, blue-ribbon panel led by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley to demand that the military get all of the equipment it needed — including helicopters and leased drones — to fight the Taliban.
Leslie said the circumstances today are much more dire.
“This is different,” he said. “This has the potential to be World War Three if we get it wrong, if we don’t let deterrence do its job.
“And to make deterrence effective we have to do our job, which is to treat it with the urgency and the gravitas it deserves.”
If western democracies like Canada “get this wrong, the sociopath that is leading this assault on the innocent people of Ukraine may think he can keep going,” Leslie said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Send the troops in now, says Leslie
There is a Canadian battle group of 500 troops in Latvia and a commitment to send an artillery battery of 120 troops, along with another frigate for the alliance’s standing fleet and an air force maritime surveillance plane.
Anand has said Canada is waiting for NATO’s call to deliver the 3,400 additional soldiers, sailors and aircrew. But Leslie said he believes they should go now, following the unilateral reinforcement of garrisons in Eastern Europe by the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
“We need the maximum number of troops that we’ve been promising NATO for years,” he said. “So let’s deliver as soon as possible.
“And by as soon as possible, I don’t mean 30, 60, 90 days. I mean within a week, two weeks.”
The equipment could follow those troops overseas, he added.
Canada’s Ambassador to NATO David Angell, testifying before the Commons defence committee on Wednesday, said that the alliance has not yet seen any sign that Russia is prepared to attack targets outside of Ukraine.
NATO says it is prepared and has activated five defensive plans to respond should the situation escalate.
Because the Canadian military is small, Leslie said, it should change some of its regular routines in order to meet the challenge in Eastern Europe.
For decades, the Canadian army has rotated its battalions through war zones and peacekeeping duties in deployments of six to nine months. With such a relatively large force going into Eastern Europe, Leslie said, the army should recognize it needs to keep troops in theater — possibly for the duration, as it did during the Second World War.
“Worry about rotations later,” Leslie said. “If they’re going to be there for years, fine. If the troops are needed for six months or a year, they can go and they stay.
“This is an emergency. Just ask the people of Ukraine.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
