While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Murray Brewster.
The Canadian military and possibly the coast guard appear to have been keeping tabs on a Chinese research vessel as it returns to Arctic waters off Alaska for the second year in a row. Data compiled by an independent researcher and ship tracker, Steffan Watkins, shows a Canadian air force CP-140 surveillance plane was flying in the vicinity of the...
Government has levers it can pull in times of urgency. By anyone's measure, $150 billion a year is an eye-watering amount of money to spend on anything — let alone defence. While it pales in comparison to the inflation-adjusted appropriations of the Second World War, it is potentially, for this generation, the very definition of beating ploughshares into swords. Or is it?
There was a particularly telling moment at a bygone NATO summit about four years ago, which perfectly captured the sometimes capricious way the Western military alliance regards Ukraine. The secretary general of the day, the often unflappable Jens Stoltenberg, was asked about the Eastern European country's long-standing bid to join the allies. At that point, Ukraine had been waiting more...
Signing on to NATO's new defence spending target could cost the federal treasury up to $150 billion a year, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday in advance of the Western military alliance's annual summit. The prime minister made the comments in an interview with CNN International. "It is a lot of money," Carney said.
Carney has been open to more spending — but hasn’t committed to 5%. Short and sweet is not usually a phrase associated with the annual NATO leaders' summit, but arguably that's what many member nations are hoping for as U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the table. The gathering of allied leaders will be the first for Prime Minister Mark...
Bart De Wever says Iran is a sponsor of terrorism and should never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon. There was little sympathy for Iran and reluctant backing for regime change among some European leaders, following the weekend airstrikes by the United States on Iran's nuclear facilities. On Monday, newly minted conservative Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever described...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Brussels to meet with EU members. Canada and Europe will be drawn a little closer together on Monday as Prime Minister Mark Carney signs a strategic defence and security partnership with the European Union. The agreement will open the door for Canadian companies to participate in the $1.25-trillion ReArm Europe program, which is seen...
Former military language and cultural advisers — who at times carried out some of the most difficult and dangerous assignments of Canada's war in Afghanistan — are now suing the federal government for discrimination over the alleged failure to properly train and take care of them following their service alongside combat troops, CBC News has learned.
Officials pitch working with long-standing traditional NATO allies for military buildup. Senior German and Norwegian defence officials say they're confident Canada will sign on to the ReArm Europe plan in the coming weeks and such a move will make it easier for the Liberal government to buy new submarines from allies. Jasper Wieck, the political director of the German Ministry...
At the onset of the First World War, Britain's veritable foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, remarked that the lamps were going out all over Europe and "we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." The metaphor has long been considered as the unofficial epitaph to what at the time was the longest run of peace and prosperity on...
David McGuinty says government to launch 'immediate and decisive action to rebuild Canada's defence capacity.' Defence Minister David McGuinty pulled out all the stops Wednesday in his first major public speech to enlist the country's top arms makers in the Liberal government's plans to accelerate military spending. He pledged the newly re-elected Liberal government will take "immediate and decisive action...
'By Canada Day we'd like to see something concrete there,' PM tells Power & Politics. Prime Minister Mark Carney signalled he hopes Canada will be able to sign on to a major European defence rearmament plan by July 1, a step toward reducing the country's dependency on the United States for weapons and munitions. He made the remarks on CBC's...
Attrition rate for new recruits more than double the average across Forces. The Canadian military insists it's getting a handle on its recruiting crisis, but a new leaked internal report obtained by CBC News suggests many of those who come through the door quickly leave in frustration over the inability to get trained and into the job they want.
Canada intends to expand its military training regime in the Arctic, deploying a variety of forces in the region for up to 10 months a year, starting this year, the military's operations commander says. Lt.-Gen. Steve Boivin says the military's signature Far North exercise — Operation Nanook — will see additional elements created, resulting in a greater, consistent presence in...
Gone, it seems, are the days when the phrase "going nuclear" was meant figuratively. Since the beginning of the year and the inauguration of the second Trump administration, an increasing number of Washington's closest allies have begun to throw quiet — and sometimes not so quiet — fits about whether they can still count on the decades-old nuclear deterrent capability...
Country is making co-ordinated push to work with Canada amid uneasy U.S. relations. A trio of South Korean companies have made a significant, multibillion-dollar pitch to Canada, promising to quickly replace the navy's aging submarines, deliver more firepower to the army and help revitalize the country's defence industrial base. A detailed overview of the unsolicited proposals, which were delivered to...
There is an "anything you can do, I can do better" vibe to the defence policies of both the Liberals and the Conservatives, but a trio of national security and military experts say each of the parties are missing — or avoiding — the fundamental national security issue at stake in this election. They say voters are likely asking themselves...
Detailed planning for a potential "coalition of the willing" peacekeeping mission to Ukraine is expected to kick off this week among Western military commanders, says the Canadian general in charge of overseas and domestic operations. The notion of a peacekeeping force is being met internationally with skepticism as Ukraine and Russia meet indirectly to hammer out a limited ceasefire.
Trump's annexation threats have upended the notion that there are no votes in defence. Issues of sovereignty, national security and defence — often footnotes, or even ignored outright in federal election campaigns — are likely to dominate the political landscape over the next five weeks as Canadians march toward the April 28 vote.
Canada is actively looking at potential alternatives to the U.S.-built F-35 stealth fighter and will hold conversations with rival aircraft makers, Defence Minister Bill Blair said late Friday, just hours after being reappointed to the post as part of Prime Minister Mark Carney's new cabinet. The remarks came one day after Portugal signalled it was planning to ditch its acquisition...
Canadian and American troops fought together and bled together in the scorched hinterlands of Afghanistan. And for that reason there is a palpable sense of dismay — even betrayal — among Canadian veterans toward the Trump administration over its threats and treatment of not just Canada, but other allies such Ukraine.
Eventual price tag for trio of warships expected to top $22.2 billion. Amid a flurry of last minute senate and judicial appointments, the Liberal government quietly announced Saturday it has signed an $8 billion implementation contract for the construction of the Royal Canadian Navy's new destroyers. It is only the first step in the long-delayed process to replace the navy's...
Lt.-Gen. Mike Wright says army is examining everything from 'headquarters right down to the unit level.' The Canadian Army is about to embark on a wholesale restructuring in the face of growing demands for troops and equipment both overseas and at home, says the country's top soldier. A military modernization team is currently studying the problem against the backdrop of...
Canada's participation in U.S. President Donald Trump's planned "Golden Dome" missile-defence system for North America is limited to research involving the detection of incoming threats, the U.S. commander for NORAD told a defence conference on Wednesday. Gen. Greg Guillot told the annual Conference of Defence Associations Institute annual forum in Ottawa that he and his staff are excited about the...
The country's top military commander delivered a keep calm and carry on message on Wednesday in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated threats to annex Canada. Gen. Jennie Carignan says the military-to-military relationship between the two countries is solid and has not shown the signs of the political strain that has racked the two nations. "The relationship that...
NATO members and other allies may worry that they'll be next. Whenever we talk about NATO it's usually in the context of money — or the famous all-for-one, one-for-all treaty clause known as Article 5. The provision is the bedrock of the Western military alliance, allowing leaders from Latvia to London to Ottawa to sleep better at night knowing more...
NATO's secretary general is downplaying the threat of a trade war between the United States and Canada — two founding members of the Western military alliance — as a dispute that could be managed. Mark Rutte, the former prime minister of the Netherlands who was appointed to the top allied political post last fall, spoke Monday in Brussels alongside British...
NATO says it wants its members to develop national plans to bolster the capacity of their individual defence industry sectors, a concept Canada has struggled with — or avoided outright — for decades.
'I wonder if they should have just gone to Canadian Tire,' says defence expert. Despite the defence department spending more than $34.8 million on new sleeping bags, the Canadian Army asked late last year that hundreds of soldiers headed to a joint northern exercise in Alaska with the Americans be issued with old, 1960s-vintage bedrolls. Troops who had used the...
Despite facing heavy pressure to ramp up military spending, the Department of National Defence (DND) has slow-rolled one of the least complex of its vehicle replacement programs. The light utility vehicle program has been on the books for several years. Its purpose is to update the military's fleet of two-decade-old Afghan war-era Mercedes G-Wagons and civilian-grade utility vehicles, such as...
Ukraine is free to use Canadian-donated tanks and armoured vehicles inside Russia, the Department of National Defence said Thursday. The statement comes as speculation grows among military experts about how long Ukraine can stay on the offensive in Russia's Kursk region — and about the long-term impact the surprise cross-border incursion will have on the long-running war.
The Liberal government's recent internal budget cutting exercise at the Department of National Defence (DND) has deprived the army's system for maintaining equipment and vehicles of up to $150 million, CBC News has learned. And when the preservation of older systems — the kind that might have to be pressed into service during an emergency — is factored in, the...
The cost to build the navy's often-delayed, long-anticipated supply ships has shot up once again — this time by almost $1 billion — the federal procurement department announced Friday. Successive federal governments have tried for almost two decades to deliver joint support ships (JSS) to the navy — vessels used to replenish warships at sea. After years of delay, the...
The Pentagon has released an updated Arctic strategy that warns of low-level Russian "destabilizing" activities in the Far North aimed at the United States, Canada and its allies. The 18-page assessment, released earlier this week, also points to increased naval co-operation in the region between Moscow and Beijing and promises more allied military exercises, the deployment of new technologies and...
The Department of National Defence is actively considering whether to retire some older ships, planes and other items of equipment that have become difficult and costly to maintain — including the aircraft belonging to the iconic Snowbird demonstration squadron. In an interview with CBC News, Defence Minister Bill Blair insisted no decisions have been made and he's waiting on advice...
Reaching NATO's defence spending benchmark isn't about showing up at your local military trade show with a credit card and buying "a whole bunch of stuff," Defence Minister Bill Blair said Friday following the conclusion of the alliance's Washington summit. In an interview with CBC News, he also suggested some allies have it easier than Canada does when it comes...
Canada plans to commit an additional $500 million in military assistance to Ukraine this year, the federal government said on the sidelines of the NATO Summit. The announcement, late Wednesday, capped a day where the 32-member alliance clearly felt the political pressure of a war going badly.
The United States, Canada and Finland have entered into a trilateral pact to build icebreakers for the Arctic region, the three countries said in a joint statement Thursday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington. The agreement also involves the sharing of expertise, information and capabilities among the partner countries. "This partnership will strengthen the shipbuilding in
Canada definitely plans to move forward with the purchase of new submarines, the federal government announced on the margins of the NATO Summit on Wednesday. Up to now, the government has spoken only about the possibility of replacing the aging Victoria-class boats. But in the face of mounting criticism of Canada's defence spending by allies — notably the United States...
Representatives of NATO nations gathered in Washington Tuesday for a landmark anniversary leaders' summit, complete with a musical performance that could have rivalled Broadway. But behind the celebratory air and the parade of flags in the hall where allies signed the Washington Treaty 75 years ago — launching the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — there was an air of political anxiety.
Lt.-Gen. Jennie Carignan has been named the next chief of the defence staff, CBC News and Radio-Canada have learned — making her the first woman to serve as the top commander of the Canadian military. Carignan will succeed Gen. Wayne Eyre as leader of the Canadian Armed Forces, a senior source said. CBC News is keeping the name of the...
The country's top military commander says contingency evacuation plans have been drawn up to extract roughly 20,000 Canadians from Lebanon should full-scale fighting erupt between Israel and Hezbollah, but those plans are heavily dependent on allied support.
Canada, Germany and Norway are discussing the possibility of a trilateral defence and security partnership covering the North Atlantic and the Arctic — an arrangement that could be broader and deeper than previously thought. When German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was in Ottawa early last month, he made reference to a letter delivered to his Canadian counterpart, Bill Blair, offering...
The cabinet minister in charge of the federal treasury says it doesn't make sense to pour vast amounts of money into the Department of National Defence until it has the capacity to spend what it's being given. Federal Treasury Board President Anita Anand, a former defence minister, waded into the debate over Canada's apparent inability to meet the NATO benchmark...
One of the country's leading business voices is warning that Canada faces "diplomatic isolation" if it's not prepared to deliver a concrete plan next month to raise defence spending to meet NATO's benchmark. The Business Council of Canada — which has been wading more and more into the debate on national security lately — made the assessment in a letter...
On so many different levels, the gathering of western leaders in Normandy today is steeped in symbolism as the nations whose troops stormed the beaches eight decades ago reflect on wars — past and present. The ceremonies that will unfold throughout today, however, also mark what might be the world's last opportunity to celebrate the handful of surviving soldiers, sailors...
There will be money set aside in today's federal budget for the Department of National Defence (DND) — much of it linked to the implementation of the new defence policy released with great fanfare last week by the Liberal government after more than two years of study. It remains to be seen how quickly the funding will be rolled out...
With absolutely no exceptions, every defence policy presented by the Canadian government over the past five decades has presented a vision of the world beyond our borders going to hell in a handbasket. The wars may be different, the adversaries might change, threats might have evolved — but the language almost always stays the same.
As the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine arrives, the Russian Army is showing a remarkable capacity to take extraordinary punishment and regenerate itself at a pace western military leaders and experts had not anticipated. Only nine months ago, American intelligence officials were telling the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that it would take a decade — or...
Canada has signalled it's prepared to get behind a Czech Republic initiative to ship tens of thousands of artillery shells from different countries to Ukraine on an urgent basis. Although the details are still being finalized, defence sources say the federal government could contribute as much as $30 million to the plan, which was proposed at the opening of the...
In the fall of 2022, a little more than six months into the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, two of Canada's major ammunition manufacturers submitted proposals to the Liberal government to drastically increase production of artillery shells. Almost a year and a half later — with Canadian stockpiles drained by donations to dangerously low levels, and with Ukraine running out...
Canada is cutting another cheque for $60 million to help train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16, Defence Minister Bill Blair announced Wednesday as allies gathered in Brussels ahead of this week's NATO ministerial meeting. The contribution announced at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting follows the federal government's announcement last month of a $15 million donation to pay...
We have been warned — over and over again lately — that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is an inflection point in history. And while the soaring political rhetoric may have sounded good over the last few years, it's very likely that this week — after a cascade of events in Kyiv, Moscow, Washington and, yes, even Ottawa — we truly...
Air force technicians are being forced to perform more frequent inspections of Canada's trouble-prone CH-148 Cyclone helicopters after the U.S. manufacturer found a defect related to the main rotor blades, says an internal report. CBC News has obtained a copy of what's known as a Record of Airworthiness Risk Management report for the maritime helicopter — basically, the military air...
In Estonia, they're talking about building more public bomb shelters and making them mandatory in all newly constructed homes. In neighbouring Latvia, the government is going through the second draft of mandatory military service legislation. Next door in Lithuania, there's talk of universal conscription.
The Department of National Defence (DND) has revised its estimate of the lifetime cost of owning and operating the air force's CH-148 Cyclones to $15.9 billion — slightly more than a billion dollars higher than its previous estimate. CBC News reported last week on 2021 internal documents that projected the full life-cycle cost — including purchase, operations and sustainment — was expected to exceed $14.87 billion.
A significant, even far-reaching event would have slipped almost silently under the radar in Ottawa this week, had it not been for Ukrainian news media. The Liberal government quietly (perhaps deliberately so) handed over a draft of its proposed security assurances plan for Ukraine to officials in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office. The milestone was acknowledged by Canada's Ambassador to Ukraine...
The lifetime cost of buying, owning and operating the air force's troubled CH-148 Cyclones is now expected to top $14.87 billion, according to a leaked internal Department of National Defence briefing document obtained by CBC News. Most of the expense — $10 billion — is being attributed to the cost of sustaining the aircraft. The CH-148 Cyclone is unique; no...
The air force is worried about keeping the aging weapons systems aboard its CH-148 Cyclones operational into the future, according to leaked documents obtained by CBC News. It's an understatement to say that the $5.8 billion maritime helicopters project is a work-in-progress for the Department of National Defence (DND) and the aircraft's U.S. manufacturer, Sikorsky. It will soon be 2...
The Department of National Defence (DND) says it's taking steps to improve training for staff at the military's sexual misconduct support centre, acknowledging that men who report being abused have not always felt "safe, secure and supported." The federal government issued a notice late in December saying it intends to award a sole-source contract to an Ottawa-based company to provide...