Prime Minister Mark Carney announces that Germany’s TKMS has been selected as the preferred supplier for Canada’s planned new submarine fleet, a procurement expected to become the largest defence purchase in Canadian history. Photo courtesy Mark Carney/Facebook.

There should have been a robust national debate about Canada’s planned acquisition of 12 new German- and Norwegian-built submarines. Instead, there has been remarkably little discussion at all. While the purchase price of the submarines is currently projected to be somewhere in the region of $24 billion, it is already being stated almost as a badge of honour that, with lifetime maintenance and sustainment costs added, the overall program will likely exceed $100 billion.

Sadly, the mainstream media has largely accepted that current geopolitical circumstances justify such an acquisition, without seriously examining whether these supposed realities warrant tens of billions of dollars in expenditure, or whether buying foreign-built submarines is the best way to spend such sums on defence.

Avi Lewis, the new leader of the NDP, has apparently tried to avoid engaging in an in-depth discussion of the issue. While critical of Mark Carney’s proposed Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, bland accompanying statements such as “Canada needs a modern and well-equipped military” effectively give the green light to the submarine purchase. Indeed, it is a sad reflection on the state of Canadian politics on defence matters that one of the few voices questioning whether Canada really needs as many as 12 submarines has been former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, who has asked quite plainly: “Do we really need twelve”

Nonetheless, O’Toole does not seem to think that spending the money itself is a bad idea, just not on all 12 submarines, suggesting perhaps the purchase of eight instead. Hawks in the press, such as CBC defence correspondent Murray Brewster, have largely been left to trumpet the merits of the purchase without even a hint of balanced reporting.

Given Canada’s current political realities—in which tax increases, particularly on corporations and the ultra-rich, remain taboo—the huge sums being spent on defence will inevitably mean cuts elsewhere. The left in Canada remains silent on defence spending at its peril. It is time to start seriously questioning not only what defence spending is being spent on, but whether such expenditure is warranted in the first place.

The left should probably start with the broader question of whether dramatically increased defence spending is necessary at all. This supposed need rests on the idea that the world is full of “bad guys” who are out........

© Canadian Dimension