In the third of my National Post op-ed series offering policy advice to the Conservatives I focus on a much neglected piece of successful conservative governing coalitions everywhere: national security conservatives.
“Conservatives have, then, lots of room to make themselves the unapologetic defenders of Canada’s national interests. They can, for example, strengthen anti-money-laundering laws and enforcement, create a foreign agents registry, appoint a national taskforce to identify ways to defend our democracy against foreign influence operations, ban Chinese telecom supplier Huawei from Canada’s telecom system, and reveal intelligence about the influence operations of both Russia and China on our soil. They can beef up the capacity of our intelligence and armed forces to combat cyber-security threats. Job One of any government is to defend its citizens from foreign threats, a task at which Ottawa has been failing miserably.
“Speaking of the armed forces, Canada can strengthen the West’s commitment to collective security and Canada’s influence with its allies by honouring our own promise to spend two per cent of GDP on defence within, say, ten years. Then we could contribute more than hashtags when the next authoritarian threat emerges, whether in Ukraine, the Baltics, Taiwan, Korea or the Middle East.
“And Conservatives can start treating our natural resources, not only as the national treasure they are, but as a buttress for the democratic world against economic pressure such as Russia and China have both tried to exercise by dominating markets for energy in Europe and strategic minerals globally.”
