Largs
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Location: Ontario
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| Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject: Testing posting News |
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Let's try a news story now.
BRUSSELS -- If Paul Martin ever needed to make a good impression on the world stage, the time would be now, say political and military observers.
With his Liberal minority government about to deliver what could be a do-or-die budget and fresh from a scathing article in The Economist, which christened him "Mr. Dithers," the prime minister departed Sunday for Brussels to attend a gathering of NATO leaders.
One of the significant challenges facing Martin will be to convince alliance members, especially the United States, that a decade-long funding drought for the Canadian Forces is finally at an end, said a military analyst.
"We've got to stop giving the impression that Canada will be there and then we show up with whatever we can cobble together," said Murray Lee, a retired colonel who often spoke about the need to replace the aging fleet of Sea King helicopters.
"Looking at The Economist this week calling him Mr. Dithers, here's the perfect opportunity for him to dispel that aspersion and say, 'We're serious, we're going to have a strong foreign affairs policy, we're going to have a strong defence policy and here's the first steps on how we're going to do that."'
In a background briefing for reporters on Friday, senior Foreign Affairs officials conceded the credibility issue will be addressed during Tuesday's meeting.
Martin will tell world leaders to watch Wednesday's budget for the Liberal "government's commitment to rebuild the Canadian Forces," said one official who asked not to be named.
NATO members have long grumbled that as a percentage of gross domestic product, Canada spends less on defence than almost all of its partners.
Ottawa's opposition to the war in Iraq, while cheered in Europe, has only heightened impatience among the alliance's biggest partners, the United States and Britain, for an overhaul of the Canadian military.
Lee said the transport delays and glitches, which befell the DART team as it responded to the tsunami disaster in southeast Asia, only serve to underline the concerns of the allies.
"If I were in (the prime minister's) shoes, the first thing I would tell NATO is that we're going to supply our Forces with the lift they need to get where they're going and we're going to have an army that's sustainable."
Turning in a good performance on the international stage will be just as important for the prime minister on the home front, said a political scientist.
Given that the Liberals suffered their first defeat over a bill in the House of Commons last week and with this week's upcoming budget, Martin will need to be at the top of his game.
"He'll be wanting to demonstrate here that he does a have clear direction," said David Johnson, a political scientist the University College of Cape Breton, in Sydney, N.S.
"We may very well be back in an election campaign soon and everything he's trying to do here is to demonstrate to people he does a have grip on leadership. He needs to show that he's not simply wandering around talking to himself, having a policy debate with himself about what to do as the Mr. Dithers label suggests."
Buying or leasing heavy transport aircraft to haul troops and equipment overseas should be the Liberal government's top military spending priority and it should be followed up by the construction of heavy sealift transport ships, said Lee in an interview from Halifax.
"Both of those steps would go a long way to restoring the faith" of other countries, he said.
It remains to be seen whether Martin will go that far.
The prime minister is expected to announce that 30 military instructors will join a NATO-led force in Jordan which will help train the new Iraqi army.
That commitment also comes with a $1 million contribution towards an alliance-managed trust fund, which helps pay for lodging and support of the Iraqi trainees.
As well, Canada will highlight the upcoming summer deployment of a provincial reconstruction team to southern Afghanistan.
The 250 member specialized group will be in addition to the 700 combat troops already based in Kabul. |
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