He’s served his country at the highest levels of defence and now…
Michel Maisonneuve is calling out the failures at home.
From Trudeau’s decline to Carney’s dangerous plan,
he’s speaking hard truths about what’s happening to Canada.
No spin. No talking points. Just common sense.
Video Transcript:
(00:00) it was kind of predisposed by the Liberal Party they wanted him and that’s why you know they the voting approach that they took and like somebody said only 140,000 people decided that he was going to be the prime minister of Canada and since he’s been there I am outraged by the fact that he has behaved as if he’s got a mandate from the Canadian people welcome back to another episode of Overinated i’m Jasmine Lane and today we get to chat with Michelle Masanov who is a former Canadian Army officer who has served as the assistant deputy chief
(00:32) of the defense staff of Canada and chief of staff of NATO’s allied command transformation in Norfolk he’s also the 30th recipient of the Vimemy Award but these days you may be more familiar with him as being an author as well as somebody who has written a few times now in the National Post we chat a lot about Trump Mark Carney Pierre Polyv and why it is so important that we vote conservative this election be sure to subscribe comment follow and like the video and let’s get into this thank you yeah I mean I spent 35 years in the
(01:09) armed forces finished as a left general uh then another 10 years as the uh as the principal of a military college so an academic job uh and uh so a total of 45 years I guess serving my country and in those 45 years I you know I was restricted in my freedom of speech um and so uh but since uh retirement so since uh 2018 I’ve decided that I’m uh getting out there and speaking I was honored to receive the vimeie award in uh 2020 it was the 2020 award but because of co was presented in 2022 and I made a speech that was that I I wanted
(01:45) it to be the start of a dialogue it was probably you know a hard-hitting speech and uh talked about that that I thought our country was was failing and not reaching its potential that uh got me if you wish cancelled to a certain extent and um but eventually turned into an ability or a a platform for me to speak about some of those issu issues and expand on them and led to eventually uh writing this book called In Defense of Canada that I uh that came out in October of last year so since then I I’ve been uh and when I
(02:19) spoke in 2022 I was speaking as a Canadian not as a partisan of one party or another since then though I’ve obviously come out of the closet as a as a conservative and trying to help Pierre Palev to uh to become the new prime minister of Canada because we need a change man do we need a change so that’s kind of the way things have happened you know um Pierre Polyv obviously he uh he’s a big fan of yours i’ve seen on social media before which uh I’m sure is quite the honor but you’ve also lived a life with so many high honors um it’s
(02:50) interesting your knowledge and and it’s something that I’ve heard the media mainstream media try to get him on a few times when he talks about you know uh I don’t know what the proper word is unwokifying our our military in particular and so you have obviously spoken out against woke ideology and the ways in which it has infiltrated military public institutions and also in my view at least um just weakened uh many Canadians especially young Canadians where you’re kind of always trained to to listen to a person of
(03:21) authority and uh then all of a sudden you’re you’re taught all of these things and you believe them to be true and you get out into the real world and the real world is quite different than a lot of that stuff but we’ve seen a massive ideological takeover it really seems there’s no other way that I can explain it and so what what impacts do you believe that that woke ideology uh perhaps weakness is is more of a crude way of saying it but what that is having on our national security as well as our unity as a nation well I I really do
(03:55) think that uh that the whole DEI and and woke uh kind of approach to things has has weakened our country has weakened our certainly our Canadian armed forces um I didn’t mention my wife spent 21 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force and so when her and I in our 56 years of of combined service look at at what’s going on in our country uh we’re we’re saddened uh you’re right it has weakened uh it has weakened our country the whole concept of service is uh has been weakened by that the lack of the use of meritocracy just simple meritocracy to
(04:27) uh to bring people in uh the whole DEI approach where uh it’s almost uh it’s almost focused against white young men who are frankly and they’ve been the the the group who’s served their country uh more than any other and I I I am open to having everyone serve their country and I think if anyone wants to serve their country be they’re man woman um or uh LGBT or whatever if they can meet the standards my goodness who are we to say they should not so I I really do think that we need to um to get get a grip on that come back to to a simple
(05:03) meritocracy and I would say where where two candidates are the same uh and one is more diverse than the other if you’re looking to improve your diversity obviously you uh you give the the the diverse person the position but but we need to really get back to that so it has weakened our security um writ large and right now our country cannot pro protect itself we don’t have the means to protect ourselves we’re undefended uh underappreciated the armed forces are uh and underfunded and and it’s we need to really get a grip on that there’s a lot
(05:36) to fix in Canada for sure you know it’s kind of funny um this is just a silly little anecdotal story but once upon a time I had a very brief uh love interest of mine who worked at an infantry and it was so fascinating meeting all of the people that uh he was friends with they worked uh down at the base in Brandon Manitoba and it was unbelievable the stories those men and women would share um the backgrounds that they came from and the reason why they chose to serve it it’s it’s such a different culture in Canada when it comes to our military
(06:12) than it is in the United States in some ways like I really feels like in Canada there’s people who do it because they are it’s it’s not even like it’s the cool thing to do or the highest paying job or anything like there’s there’s such a deep reason behind it and I just think that that’s so admirable and so it’s it’s painful to see how much people aren’t respected you know you have uh you have people who have to pay for their own helmets it’s just what is happening here exactly it’s it’s just such a shame it truly is um and I’m I’m
(06:44) wondering as well you know Pierre Polyv has spoken on this on this at length um as have other leaders too but when it comes to Canada and our NATO and defense budgets and all that stuff what is your theory I suppose behind why it stagnated the way that it did which kind of put us in in the position that we are in why wasn’t that taken as as a bigger priority well I I think it’s a reflection of how Canadians think of defense they don’t think of defense uh you know they don’t think of of our armed forces unless there’s a crisis
(07:19) like uh forest fires or or floods or or whatever uh that’s when they start thinking about them but that’s too late you know during a crisis is too late what we need to and you know coming back to your other point those who do serve Canada right now young men and women are amazing i mean I’m sure your uh you know your your colleague your friend there was was fantastic he’s a young Canadian and they’re still the best they’re the best what we’re not doing we as Canadians is giving them the means to to really be successful in their job you
(07:48) know the best equipment the best training uh the best funding uh the best support also from just ordinary Canadians and so so that’s kind of you know because Canadians don’t think about defense until there’s a crisis it’s difficult for them to be involved in this and and to have an idea about it and and you’re right our politicians now have said on on both sides or all the sides of the aisles um that they they believe we need to improve the forces we are not meeting our 2% but I’ve always said the other thing is don’t worry
(08:16) about 2% 3% whatever take a blank sheet of paper and say okay what do we need to defend our country and once you decide that how many units how many aircraft how many ships you’re going to be way beyond the 2% and you know and if you give that to the armed forces they’ll know what to do with it they uh then they will feel that they’re able to uh I mean we’re 16,500 soldiers short now even in our tiny armed forces so there’s a lot of work to do there to to improve the situation do you think uh there’s anything at all Mark Carney has said “Oh
(08:48) we’re going to protect fight and build.” Do you think that there’s any any bit of that that actually holds true or or is even a reality with what they have shown so far or what you know about him so far as well i guess the to me the question comes down to trust i mean Mark Carney he’s he’s a liberal he’s the head of the he’s the the chief the the leader of the Liberal Party the Liberal Party will continue to be the Liberal Party with their policies so they’re they’re you know extreme progressive policies the
(09:18) whole DEI business the whole climate change business and putting the emphasis on that what we need now is change we need to and so the why I say it comes down to trust is are you going to trust the same old people same old tired liberals I call them to to you know implement all the things that they want to do that we need to do in our country or do you do you want to take somebody like Pierre Paul you watched him last night in the debate and everybody said he’s an attack dog and he’s he’s ridic look at him he was prime ministerial he
(09:46) was relaxed he was confident he was in control he had you know he had a real great grasp of of his uh of the issues he was reasonable And you know what Jasmine he brought hope i think this is what he talked about he talked about hope and sadly to me in the last 10 years we have lost hope i mean this government the current government and uh and again it’s the Liberal government uh he’s going to continue the the policies of uh Justin Trudeau and so to me it’s quite clear we need uh a government to bring us hope
(10:17) including to the armed forces and to implement the things that that he says uh and I think Pierre is the guy to do that i I want to jump back to that a little bit but this one just came in my head uh so watching the debates last night did you watch the the whole thing yes I did so I I’m not sure if you can speak to this but I’ll ask anyway um Mark Carney had brought up when he had his one-on-one uh with Pierre Palv which I thought was just such a failed opportunity and I was absolutely shocked that he brought up Pierre Polyv’s
(10:49) security clearance what are your thoughts on that talking point uh what that means and the way that it has been vilified and used to cast doubt on the conservatives i think he’s absolutely right and everything he said if and okay first of all he started by saying I had a top security clearance when I was uh you know he was a minister so he has to have that top top security clearance but now to to enable him to have the the ability to criticize and to be the opposition leader that you want and I frankly he he’s the best leader of the
(11:25) opposition I have ever seen in my you know 71 years on this earth um and and so to be able to have that flexibility he needed to to not be tied to the to the official Secrets Act and it’s and that’s what it is Jasmine it’s the Official Secrets Act which if you contravene that you’re going to jail that’s that’s that’s all there’s to it so he needed to to do that so it was a silly thing for Carney to bring up and you know when I talked about the matter of trust uh just a few minutes ago how can you trust a guy who’s an you know
(11:55) afraid to tell us exactly what his financial worth is and secondly that he he would not confirm that he was uh Justin Trudeau’s economic adviser and and as uh Palev said here he was on you know he’s still on the website so you guys update the website but will you confirm tonight and he wouldn’t do it so how can you trust a person like that that’s that’s such a good point you uh you’ve said before that Canada is in crisis canada is under attack but it’s not from foreign enemies uh it’s from within and so on that note
(12:33) uh what exactly is it that you think is the greatest internal threat that Canadians are facing at this moment or not just Canadians individually but just the country as a whole well I think national nudity is is right up there i mean certainly when you’ve got you know the in Alberta you’re they’re talking about it openly there’s no question and and you know Danielle Smith has has you know actually come out herself as as the leader of the province uh you’re looking in Quebec right now uh you know separatism is coming back to the four so
(13:04) um that is a real issue i mean to me the the the threats to Canada the fact we we’ve got a crisis of leadership and a crisis of complacency so Canadians are not uh aware enough and you know why did it take uh Trump to to actually make us have a little bit of patriotism we should have had uh you know should have cared more about our country even before that so so it’s a crisis of leadership our our leaders I think are leading us in the wrong way that’s why we need a change there crisis of complacency where Canadians need to serve their country
(13:33) more and better not just in the military but in every way um so I mean I could list all the issues you know affordability housing taxes immigration Canadian armed forces resources versus climate debts deficits uh international reputation and influence which is and the point is we’re just not reaching our potential and then when you look in the south with uh with Trump uh being elected there my latest point is if we had been a strong country already if we had developed our resources if we had pipelines going across the country
(14:05) helping uh Europe and Asia get more green than than they are currently helping Europe get off the uh uh Russian gas if we had strong armed forces and met our our 2% requirement do you think Trump would have acted that way i don’t think he would have we brought this on to ourselves he saw weakness he saw a liberal government that would be you know that had focused on on the wrong things and so he’s he’s uh you know that’s what he wants he wants to annex us economically and uh and you know if we don’t watch it he’ll do so so we need
(14:38) to stand up for ourselves fix our country then redefine our relationship with the United States and you know from a position of strength from a position of confidence um so I mean you know that’s kind of going around uh the question you asked but I think leadership uh and complacency are the two big crises in our country it’s it’s kind of funny to hear you say that it’s something I’ve I’ve thought a lot too i have a few more details in there but you know with Trump and and everything that’s going on he is not just doing it
(15:08) to Canada for one and we have gotten ourselves in a pretty dependent position um and whether we like it or not that is just the reality and it’s fascinating to hear people such as Mark Carney um even the block and NDP all none of them have said anything at all about unleashing our energy sector unleashing our resources how exactly do you expect to build this amazing economic growing country like just this amazing place to live when you will not do those things it is impossible to do that and it’s been so frustrating and again I guess
(15:46) kind of going back to uh woke and ideological takeovers you know you had the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau for how many years now smearing and just insulting not only conservative Canadians but also Republicans and Donald Trump and I and you’re surprised that Donald Trump doesn’t like you because you thought he wasn’t going to win again and you decided to take advantage of that for your own gain to create this fear in in your people and now he’s mad at you duh it’s just he weakened and what Trudeau did he
(16:22) weakened our social cohesion you know by saying that we’re a postnational state by increasing immigration to to un you know uh levels that are impossible to assimilate into our country if you’re a postnational state you have no culture of your own you just have the culture of the mosaic that’s out there you know and there’s nothing no grout between the mosaic keeping it together keeping us together we need to define what Canada is what is a Canadian and we’re more than non-Americans which is the only the only answer that Trudeau could give to
(16:55) an American was that you know how do you define a Canadian he said well we’re non not Americans i mean isn’t that the silliest thing so so really he has he really weakened and uh our social cohesion and that’s another piece of course uh that makes us weak in front of somebody like Trump who’s uh you know all about America and so let’s look at what Pierre Palev is trying to do canada first you know we want to be a strong confident nation and you’re absolutely right that’s what we need and unleash the potential of our nation in in many
(17:26) in every way you’re right climate or sorry um resources our natural resources but also the the you know the the the capabilities of our people um you know make them feel like they’re Canadians and make them make them you know unleash their own human capital their human potential and uh we’re not doing that what exactly are your thoughts on Mark Carney stepping into politics obviously you’ve dealt with a lot of big names a lot of uh global bureaucracies and that sort of thing so what about his background and just the way that he went
(17:59) about this uh raises red flags for you well I I think he um I think he kind of uh it was kind of predisposed by the Liberal Party they wanted him and that’s why you know they the voting approach that they took and like somebody said only 140,000 people decided that he was going to be the prime minister of Canada and since he’s been there I am outraged by the fact that he has behaved as if he’s got a mandate from the Canadian uh people and so making decisions and you know behaving like he’s the big man on campus and all that stuff that’s why I
(18:30) say there’s a leadership crisis and and we had one with Trudeau and now we have one with Carney so I you know that’s fine bank of Bank of Canada Bank of uh of England i think the Bank of England issue is is not in my mind settled that how well he did there even the Bank of Canada you ask Prime Minister Harper he says you know it wasn’t him it was Jim Flity who sorted out the 2008 uh thing so so his background I mean he’s a typical public servant and I think he’s also he’s probably quite um quite surprised at how much uh how much um
(19:04) kind of energy it takes to be a a politicians i mean politician he uh and I think those days as he’s taken off I think he’s he’s exhausted um so he’s going to have to see that you know uh that if he’s going to be prime minister you can’t just be prime minister for a few days of the week and and the rest of the time you know go off on on a trip you you know it’s an 24/7 time type thing so I I am not impressed um listening to his uh his his talking points to me he puts me to sleep in French as much as in English um and uh
(19:35) and so he’s not a good communicator you know and that’s uh we need uh you know one of the things of leadership one of my principles of leadership is communication you have to be able to communicate your ideas and we need a grand vision for our country which he doesn’t have we need uh we need our uh our leaders to develop a a grand vision and to lead us there he’s not the guy it’s funny you mention him uh putting you to sleep in English and French um my family is uh from Belgium a French-speaking Belgians not Dutch but
(20:07) my my grandfather I was talking with him after I think it was after the Liberal leadership race night and Mark Carney gave this big speech in French and I asked him “What did you think of of Mark Carney’s French?” And my grandpa laughed and he’s a liberal through and through for whatever reason but he just laughed and he said “Good luck.
(20:27) ” So yeah oh exactly exactly so and you know um obviously again if you think of a of a of a guy who and he has three passports right he’s a he’s a triple uh uh citizenship so if you think of a guy who’s been a public servant for that many years uh much like Mary Simon you know after being a public servant for so many years she should be able to speak French he should be able to speak French better than he is now and uh and so anyway just another thing to another tick in the box that he doesn’t meet um you know I kind of on that note uh not
(21:02) so much that note sorry but but on the note of um of kind of where Canada is headed the lack in leadership and all of that um you were nearly canled by by taxpayer funded institutions for doing something so crazy that is speaking your mind and saying what you think quite rebellious of you what does that tell you though and I’ve actually heard Mark Carney reiterate things like this frequently over the last number of weeks where he has said things referencing that he wants to limit uh freedom of speech on certain
(21:34) platforms online and things like that um because there misinformation and disinformation right all those fancy words but what does that tell you about where freedoms are headed in Canada and do you think that’s something that people should be should be concerned about right now i think we should absolutely be concerned about it i mean my view of a government the government shouldn’t be into everything shouldn’t try to regulate everything and you know Canadians need to be free uh to express themselves and and obviously you know
(22:03) the the the restrictions I had in the in the military and in the in the public service i understand them you know you can’t criticize policy when you’re inside the machine you criticize it inside the machine but once you get out I mean Canadians need to be able to express their their their opinions on on everything and and so yeah I think it’s quite dangerous it’s another place where the government is asserting itself where it has no business uh trying to regulate too many things and uh yeah it’s it’s a it’s a real concern to me uh I’m I’m
(22:32) getting near the end of this I swear no no I’m I’m enjoying this so as long as you wish to go okay good i am too i had way too many questions prepared as per usual um you know I’m I’m curious as well obviously you have so much experience um what exactly would you say to young Canadians who feel very much disillusioned and very much like their country that they they grew up in is slipping away from them what would you say in terms of you know what are the next steps for them to try to I guess reclaim our home from from the many
(23:11) things the all of these other forces you know trying to shut us up and trying to tell us that we don’t have any identity call us names if we don’t agree with whatever the narrative of the day is um so what would you say to those people i would say I would say first of all get involved have an opinion do some research understand what the issues are and and develop an opinion that that is based on facts and don’t just take you know what you see on Facebook as the truth you know you got to do some digging and you’re absolutely right
(23:45) there’s a lot of uh there’s a lot of disinformation out there misinformation so so I would say the first thing is is uh is get involved develop a position understand what the issues are and get a view on each one of those issues second thing is vote get the hell out there and make your your uh your your your single vote count uh and you know that’s the only way you can do it the third thing would be to me is is you know how can you serve your country figure out how you can help you know and I’m not just saying join the military yes join the
(24:19) military fantastic career meet incredible people uh travel to incredible places and uh and so you know that’s that’s great but there’s also other ways to help you know to to serve serve your community serve your your next door neighbor um uh serve your your city serve First Nations serve Parks Canada you know do something uh to to to serve and you know and that helps to build our country so I mean I think those are would be my first three things that I would tell them and the first one as I say is is have an opinion uh don’t
(24:54) be kind of uh you know an ostrich with your head in the sand you have to really uh you know like you’re doing Jasmine you’re fantastic you know you’re out there you have opinions and you’re getting them out there and it’s it’s an you know that’s a great initiative that uh you should be proud of what you’re doing thank you thank you very much um actually kind of speaking of opinions I’ve been hearing this a lot over the last number of weeks and I’m more so just curious on your personal take on it actually but Pierre Polyv has
(25:24) very much been smeared and painted as being somebody who’s too angry he’s too extreme he’s rude do you believe that at all that that is a real way to characterize the man or do you think that that is actually just some sort of a mediadriven campaign uh to protect the liberal establishment well I don’t I don’t just think it’s a mediadriven campaign it is a liberalled campaign to to smear him i mean you have to think back okay you look at I don’t know if you’ve read any of his biographies and that that have been written and come out
(26:00) recently but he is exactly the way he was when he was a young man and he grew up that way he’s been involved in politics he understands the machinery of government and his job in opposition was to be an attack dog to be the guy who would hold them to account find the find the holes in their in their arguments uh refute everything they’re doing with facts and he was the best at that and I really is i really think he was however I did have a chance to meet him and fit with him for 90 minutes one-on-one i was I was bowled over at how wonderful this
(26:34) this uh man is and as I always say my wife and I after 56 years in uniform we know leaders we can understand and identify leaders and he’s a leader so So yes they’re portraying him as that but just look at last night’s uh debate he was not uh he was not an angry man he was actually the one person I thought on the on the uh on the stage that that talked about hope and that can bring hope back to our country not as an angry person but somebody who’s has ideas as I say he was in control and confident but there’s a you know certainly it’s easy
(27:08) and comparing him to Trump how how ridiculous is that i mean he’s you know and and as he said himself you know I was brought up as a you know I didn’t didn’t have a silver spoon in my mouth i was you know uh from a you know middle to lowass family and I made he made his way and uh he found his way to uh to where he is today because of the promise of our country which has been shaken right now by the actions of of the liberals so so yeah I I think it is a smear campaign uh to me it’s it’s the liberals and in fact not just the
(27:39) liberal party Jasmine but you ask your ordinary liberal extremist the the leftist uh people ordinary people ask somebody you know why don’t you like Pierre Pyav well he’s in you know he’s angry all the time and all that stuff so it it’s just that for some reason it nobody can answer why they don’t like him other than that you know because actually he’s a very likable guy yeah exactly so uh it’s ridiculous but I actually I I feel the exact same way um and it’s always funny too if you ask if you really try to ask why and people
(28:14) have a difficult time they they really do yeah they can’t they can’t figure it out you know episode and then if you ask why do you like Mark Carney they’ll say “Oh well because he’s an economist.” And I’m like “Okay what else do you know about him though?” Nothing exactly and you know and can you trust him i I don’t feel I can trust him that’s the issue yeah i I feel that way as well um if if you or sorry if if we continue down this current path under the same political party like the Liberals continue to lead Canada where
(28:51) do you think Canada will be in in another 5 years my god I have sadly not uh you know I’ve not thought about that because I don’t want it to happen but but I mean obviously um I would say we’re we’re going to continue to be weak we’re going to continue to be weak and you know weak in our country but also when you think about the the strength of a country is what gives you credibility internationally and and so we haven’t talked about you know our position on the world stage which has been you know kind of completely weakened but if we
(29:24) continue to down the the path that we’re going right now we will you know we will remain a postnational state can Canadians will remain divided uh we will not be acting as a as a strong country as a confident country and I think uh you know those things that that are important right now for Canadians like affordability housing immigration are going to continue to be um to be weakened by the uh by the current administration if if they get reelected so I I really uh I think in five years we could be in in deep deep trouble the
(29:56) other thing is on the on you know his for all his economic kind of uh you know credibility or so-called credibility i mean the deficits that the liberals have uh you know uh done the last 10 years are incredible and as you remember um Trudeau said you know we’re going to have some small deficits initially this is incredible our they’ve doubled our debt you know which is $1.
(30:21) 2 trillion I think now this is something that’s going to continue and he has no plan i mean the I I don’t believe his plan stands to to scrutiny and so so again we’re going to be living within uh beyond our means uh and if you did that with your own uh budget at home Jasmine you’d be in deep trouble um as would I so so I just don’t see any improvement in the next 5 years if we stay with the same government we need a change we need it right now i uh you brought up something there and I’m I’m not at all asking you this
(30:54) question to I don’t I feel like I feel like it could be interpreted in a bad way but I’m not meaning for it to at all but you mentioned Canada on the world stage and this is something I’ve put so much thought behind because if you look at our economy as an example we are performing almost dead last in nearly every category compared to other G7 nations um there’s a few where perhaps it’s not as bad but we’re not we’re not doing good in comparison and we’ve we’ve fallen significantly over the years and it makes me wonder sometimes um you know
(31:29) cuz to be a part to be a G7 nation there’s a lot of requirements there but one of them if you’re not necessarily meeting it economically to prove that you’re worthy of the title I suppose is it’s it has to do with your reputation and your influence on the world stage and that’s somewhere that I also feel Canada is weakening uh and and I’m curious for you um what do you what do you make of that and what do you make of what Canada is now viewed as on the world stage after having a government that has treated its people the way that
(32:01) it has and that has prioritized things in such a in such a bizarre way that other nations have not um what do you think are our public images as Canadians as a result of of this poor leadership i think uh I think first of all let’s talk about productivity the uh the OECD just put out their productivity per capita i don’t know if you saw that but we’re something like in the last 10 years 0.
(32:25) 5% the growth in the US during that time and and whole bunch of other nations was was beyond 20% and and so productivity per capita is has been incredibly low in Canada so meaning that actually our our standard of living is is below that of Alabama the state of Alabama i mean how ridiculous is that so when you think of a G7 nation you think of a nation that is you know economically strong and uh and we are we are at the bottom of the G7 nations in terms of uh of GDP so just the fact that we’re there you know we’re
(32:57) probably close to getting thrown out of that or or bypassed by another nation i think it’s Spain or or Italy uh you know I think it’s Spain that uh that is uh you know nipping at our at our heels here for that in terms of other other participation in the on the world stage uh what people don’t understand also about the military and and our diplomatic corps is our ability to participate and interact in uh international um in different international scenarios the military is kind of the one thing that other nations
(33:30) see of your country right now we’ve got a small mission in in Latvia that it takes the entire armed forces to maintain okay that is you know 2,200 people i think they’re probably not even there yet they’re probably at 2,000 people but it takes the entire forces to to do that you know we have a ship here and a ship there in in different places as well but so so militarily we’re we’re incapable of uh first of all defending Canada but also participating in many of these uh these international missions that we used to in the old days and when
(34:03) I wrote the book in Defense of Canada I I I talked about where I was in in some of these instances where I could say “Here’s where I saw our country being.” And I use that as examples you know it’s it’s it’s not a biography but it talks about those times that that I was involved in something where Canada mattered in those days and you know our opinion was sought our uh our troops were participating and they were doing something very important for the coalition so right now we are you know we’re unable to participate in a lot of
(34:35) this stuff they don’t even ask our opinion we were not asked to join the AUS um arrangement with uh with Australia the UK and the US we weren’t even you know consulted we weren’t even asked to participate and now you know of course we’re trying to get back into it on the tier 2 the the the non nuclear submarine issue uh and the other issues and and you know I don’t know where we are but again a lack of leadership for us to lean forward and say “Okay Canada wants to matter we want to be part of that uh we’re going to rebuild our
(35:06) forces we’re going to rebuild our economy and become important on the world stage.” But right now uh we are extremely weak and uh I mean for all the reasons you said as well well thank you so much that is all that I have for you at the moment um I really appreciate you joining us that was uh an excellent conversation and we’ll have to do this again post election for sure
