The editors at the Winnipeg Free Press wrote an editorial yesterday in which they make the disappointing assertion that the bloody civil war currently taking place in Libya is a justification for Harper and the Conservatives to spend billions of dollars purchasing new F-35 Joint Strike Force fighter jets.
According to Parliament’s budget officer the bill for the purchase and upkeep of those fighter jets could reach $30 billion. (And given that the Conservative’s have been found in contempt of Parliament for hiding the costs of things, it’s probably not prudent to take their estimate of $16 billion at face value.)
Whether the figure is $16,000,000 or $30,000,000 is a secondary issue. The point is that that money could be used on machinery that stops wars, not fights them. As the unfolding crisis in Japan has made abundantly clear, the world needs more humanitarian help, not more killing machines. Closer to home, how many schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and other infrastructure could be built with those billions of dollars? There are a multitude of ways that money could be better spent than on the military-industrial complex. With a fragile economy Canada does not need these jets and it certainly doesn’t need to spend gigantic sums of money on new jets when presumably our current fleet could still get the job done.
The piece was titled “The Price of Being Prepared” and it gave virtually no thought to what kinds of humanitarian goodwill that kind of money would buy. The editorial also does not explain why our current air force isn’t capable of enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya, if the U.N. or NATO ever decides to enforce such a policy. It also gave zero thought to the probability that a no-fly zone, enforced by western powers, could be seen by Libya as an act of war.
The conclusion raises some serious questions:
The world is still full of nasty surprises, and Canada must be prepared to meet its obligations on the world stage, particularly if it wants to be heard and heeded in the corridors of international power.
Canada can be “heard and heeded” for doing humanitarian work, not just for its military force. Canada’s assistance in Haiti in a classic example that helping suffering people can be a way to exert influence “in the corridors of international power.” Perhaps the most disturbing element is the idea that might makes right; the notion that a country cannot attain status unless it uses military force. Canada can meet its global obligations without using military force. There are legitimate debates about the role Canada should or should not play when it comes to ending wars in other parts of the world, but the idea that we’ll stop bloodshed by causing more bloodshed is not the only way to gain global recognition.
