Canada has a plan to rebuild its army — Washington should hope it works

In September 1943, troops of the First Canadian Division carried out a daring attack on the Italian town of Potenza, enabling the British and American forces to turn what might have been a disastrous defeat into a significant victory. Fast forward 83 years, however, and it is reasonable to ask if today’s Canadian Army would once again be able to save the day in a major combat operation involving U.S. forces — or even to contribute meaningfully to such an operation in a distant battlespace. 

At the moment, the answer is clearly no. 

And the reason is obvious: At least since the end of the Cold War, the Canadian Army has been optimized for “contribution warfare” — that is, “for employment in multinational coalitions for operations other than large-scale, high-intensity combat.” That made sense during the post-Cold War unipolar moment when middle powers like Canada were primarily engaged in peacekeeping and counterinsurgency operations. But that moment has passed, and the army Canada currently possesses is no longer the Army Canada needs. Nor is it the army the U.S. needs Canada to have.

Recognizing this, Ottawa has laid out a plan to convert the Canadian Army from a hollow force into one that is adapted to the contemporary battle space. That plan, known as Inflection Point 2025, calls for the creation of a warfighting army organized, trained and equipped for sustained major combat operations “against peer or near-peer adversaries.” 

But, while Inflection Point is a good plan, so far that’s all it is: a plan. And, to paraphrase the immortal words of Robbie Burns, even the best laid plans of........

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