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Troops to remain in Afghanistan until mid-2005
CTV.ca News Staff
Prime Minister Paul Martin announced Canada would maintain a presence in Afghanistan as he laid out a vision for a 21st century defence policy -- and announced some semi-new military spending.
Canada will keep about 600 troops and 200 air force personnel in Afghanistan until 2005 where they will play a reconnaissance role.
"With our state-of-the-art Coyote vehicles, Canada will be providing critical reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities to the 34-nation international force working in Kabul," he said Wednesday in a speech at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.
"Canada's role in Afghanistan has all the hallmarks of the new type of operation the Canadian Forces will be expected to lead: it's a multilateral mission authorized by the United Nations and led by NATO; undertaken at the invitation of the Afghan government, and aimed at reviving a failing state, for humanitarian reasons and at the same time ensuring that it cannot be used as a base of operations for terrorists."
There are currently about 1,700 soldiers in Kabul now. They had been scheduled to stay until August.
The 3-D approach
Martin spent most of his speech outlining his thoughts on defence policy for the new century -- something he termed the 3-D approach.
"This '3-D' approach -- the integration of diplomacy, defence and development -- will serve as the model for Canada's involvement in international crises in the future; crises that will take many forms," he said with a backdrop of soldiers.
"For instance, multilateralism is clearly our preferred approach to resolving international crises. But the absence of international consensus must never condemn us to inaction."
Martin said the world must never allow another genocide to take place.
International terror is the major threat to Canadian security, compared to the Cold War of decades past, he said.
"There is no home front. The conflict is not 'over there.' Our approach to Canada's security and defence must reflect this reality."
Since Martin became prime minister, defence policy has been undergoing a major review that will be complete by year's end.
But in the meantime, Martin laid out six principles for guiding defence policy:
Defence, diplomacy and development must be co-ordinated
Canadian forces must have the equipment to fulfil missions around the world
Training for them must be relevant
Canada must be able to deploy quickly
Canada needs to be able to sustain and support its troops wherever they are based
Canada's forces must be able to work closely with foreign allies and domestic agencies
"It has been said that the world needs Canada and I cannot agree more," he said. "While we cannot change the world single-handedly, we can play a role far greater than our size might suggest.
"In fact, we have always punched above our weight."
Equipment purchases
Martin outlined some new spending and repeated some old commitments. The biggest new commitment is $2.1 billion for three new supply ships.
Other equipment purchases were listed by Martin, such as new fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft, a mobile gun system and maritime helicopters, but those had been previously announced. The total value of the various procurements was more than $7 billion.
Conservative Party defence critic Jay Hill said the supply ships aren't really a new announcement, saying they were referred to in the recent budget.
He derided the whole speech as a pre-election publicity stunt, adding if Martin really wanted to help the military, he would add more soldiers.
"The purpose of today is not to make a series of announcements," Martin said in response to a reporter's question, admitting much of what he talked about wasn't really new.
"The purpose of today was to put the role our armed services play, domestically and internationally, into context. And in putting them into context, we ... should talk about the kinds of equipment they require."
The part Martin's speech dealing with the equipment purchases was lacking in detail.
Defence Minister David Pratt said details on the mobile gun system would be released in London, Ont. on Thursday, while he would be making a statement on the ships in Esquimalt, B.C. on Friday.
In the recent federal budget, it was announced that troops serving in Afghanistan would pay no income tax on earnings from their assignment there.
"Today, I'm pleased to announce that this tax relief initiative will be extended to Canadian Forces personnel serving in Bosnia and Haiti. In fact, all high- and medium-level overseas deployments will be included in this measure," Martin said. That drew a cheer from the troops.
CTV.ca News Staff
Prime Minister Paul Martin announced Canada would maintain a presence in Afghanistan as he laid out a vision for a 21st century defence policy -- and announced some semi-new military spending.
Canada will keep about 600 troops and 200 air force personnel in Afghanistan until 2005 where they will play a reconnaissance role.
"With our state-of-the-art Coyote vehicles, Canada will be providing critical reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities to the 34-nation international force working in Kabul," he said Wednesday in a speech at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.
"Canada's role in Afghanistan has all the hallmarks of the new type of operation the Canadian Forces will be expected to lead: it's a multilateral mission authorized by the United Nations and led by NATO; undertaken at the invitation of the Afghan government, and aimed at reviving a failing state, for humanitarian reasons and at the same time ensuring that it cannot be used as a base of operations for terrorists."
There are currently about 1,700 soldiers in Kabul now. They had been scheduled to stay until August.
The 3-D approach
Martin spent most of his speech outlining his thoughts on defence policy for the new century -- something he termed the 3-D approach.
"This '3-D' approach -- the integration of diplomacy, defence and development -- will serve as the model for Canada's involvement in international crises in the future; crises that will take many forms," he said with a backdrop of soldiers.
"For instance, multilateralism is clearly our preferred approach to resolving international crises. But the absence of international consensus must never condemn us to inaction."
Martin said the world must never allow another genocide to take place.
International terror is the major threat to Canadian security, compared to the Cold War of decades past, he said.
"There is no home front. The conflict is not 'over there.' Our approach to Canada's security and defence must reflect this reality."
Since Martin became prime minister, defence policy has been undergoing a major review that will be complete by year's end.
But in the meantime, Martin laid out six principles for guiding defence policy:
Defence, diplomacy and development must be co-ordinated
Canadian forces must have the equipment to fulfil missions around the world
Training for them must be relevant
Canada must be able to deploy quickly
Canada needs to be able to sustain and support its troops wherever they are based
Canada's forces must be able to work closely with foreign allies and domestic agencies
"It has been said that the world needs Canada and I cannot agree more," he said. "While we cannot change the world single-handedly, we can play a role far greater than our size might suggest.
"In fact, we have always punched above our weight."
Equipment purchases
Martin outlined some new spending and repeated some old commitments. The biggest new commitment is $2.1 billion for three new supply ships.
Other equipment purchases were listed by Martin, such as new fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft, a mobile gun system and maritime helicopters, but those had been previously announced. The total value of the various procurements was more than $7 billion.
Conservative Party defence critic Jay Hill said the supply ships aren't really a new announcement, saying they were referred to in the recent budget.
He derided the whole speech as a pre-election publicity stunt, adding if Martin really wanted to help the military, he would add more soldiers.
"The purpose of today is not to make a series of announcements," Martin said in response to a reporter's question, admitting much of what he talked about wasn't really new.
"The purpose of today was to put the role our armed services play, domestically and internationally, into context. And in putting them into context, we ... should talk about the kinds of equipment they require."
The part Martin's speech dealing with the equipment purchases was lacking in detail.
Defence Minister David Pratt said details on the mobile gun system would be released in London, Ont. on Thursday, while he would be making a statement on the ships in Esquimalt, B.C. on Friday.
In the recent federal budget, it was announced that troops serving in Afghanistan would pay no income tax on earnings from their assignment there.
"Today, I'm pleased to announce that this tax relief initiative will be extended to Canadian Forces personnel serving in Bosnia and Haiti. In fact, all high- and medium-level overseas deployments will be included in this measure," Martin said. That drew a cheer from the troops.
