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"We are no longer as strong a soldier, as generous a donor and as effective a diplomat, and it has diminished us as a people," Andrew Cohen, a professor at Ottawa's Carleton University, writes in his controversial book "While Canadians Slept: How We Lost Our Place In the World," which was released this year.
On the high end, some military experts have estimated Canada would have to spend more than $500 billion during the next 10 years to revamp its military forces. Other experts say those projections are vastly overblown.
This year, the Canadian baseline defense budget increased by more than $800 million, including added money for the war in Afghanistan and subsequent peacekeeping, spare parts and training. The amount fell short of some recommendations, but McCallum -- previously a high-profile investment banker -- defends it as a critical first-step in revamping Canadian forces.
Quick-response forces will figure heavily into the upcoming Canadian defense review, McCallum said.
Since Sept. 11, Canada has "put a lot of emphasis" on Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2) and is "well on its way" to doubling the size of the 350-member interservices commando force by 2005, McCallum said.
JTF2 earned praise in Afghanistan from its American counterparts, sources said. The force consists of volunteers from the three branches of the Canadian armed forces.
The unit was launched in 1993 when it took over counterterrorist duties from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. McCallum hopes to increase JTF2's $25 million budget. "They will be included when we do our defense review; it's possible we will increase their size further," McCallum said.
Canada also has boosted intelligence spending. "We're just in the early stages, but I'm trying to focus a lot of attention on transformation in the army," he said. "Some increased specialization in some areas is a good way for us to go."
Canada also has decided to increase its reserves and is funding the second-phase of expansion of its land reserves, McCallum said. "Part of that is to increase attention on homeland defense." Plans also are under way to boost forces to a total of 85,000 military personnel by 2013.
The Canadian Conference of Defense Associations, which claims 600,000 members, released a study last October titled "A Nation at Risk," one of the more prominent in a string of studies documenting what some critics call Canadian defense inadequacies. In the report, CDA cited an annual deficit of more than $700 million for the army alone.
The group holds Canada's navy is on the verge of losing its ability to function in multinational task forces and soon could "be reduced . . . to an offshore territorial force." The air force, meanwhile, lacks trained and experienced personnel, which could leave it unable to perform certain search and rescue missions or provide 24-hour coastal patrols, according to CDA, which also highlighted problems with logistics.
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