Abstract
This chapter offers a feminist analysis of both the nature of the Canadian defence community and its expertise in general, and the manner in which that community discusses the defence policy of Liberal governments in particular. Instead of embarking on a broad assessment of Trudeau’s defence policies directly, the chapter explores the way in which all such assessments, with their assumptions of neutrality and objectivity, should be viewed with suspicion due to both the “unrepresentative author” bias inherent to much Canadian defence commentary and the gendered manner in which Liberal francophone politicians are discussed in Canada. Two defence policy case studies—the fighter replacement programme and a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission—are discussed as high-profile examples of the politics of defence in Canada. Finally, there is an examination of the government’s 2017 defence policy statement, with a focus on the way in which sex and gender are at play not only in the policy itself but also in its critical reception and political impact.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Crosby (2003, 93).
- 2.
Boswell (2008).
- 3.
- 4.
Gravelle et al. (2010, 113).
- 5.
Solomon (2005).
- 6.
Leuprecht and Sokolsky spend an entire article outlining the Walmart strategy behind Canadian defence spending, and then at the end—after explaining how it works so well—inexplicably state that Canada should spend more, in order to achieve Target status, pay more, and get some more “flair” (Leuprecht and Sokolsky 2015, 557).
- 7.
I was consulted as an “expert” for the report (Collins and Speer 2017, 12).
- 8.
“Combat capability” meaning expeditionary warfare, versus residual tasks such as sovereignty protection. The phrase has its roots in the Trudeau government’s 1974 Defence Structure Review (Keeble 1997, 555). Somewhat ironically, this “combat capability” was put forward in opposition to what was viewed the heavy, specialized equipment required by Canadian NATO-supporting troops in Europe.
- 9.
Lagassé and Robinson (2008, 55).
- 10.
Sokolsky and Jockel (2016).
- 11.
This is an astonishing admission, but is glossed over with barely a mention (James Eayrs, in Leuprecht and Sokolsky, “Walmart,” 545).
- 12.
Gravelle et al. (2010, 116).
- 13.
Ibid., 117.
- 14.
Fitzsimmons et al. (2014, 507).
- 15.
Tickner (2006).
- 16.
For an overview of the cross-country literature on this phenomenon, see Fitzsimmons et al. (2014).
- 17.
Eichenber (2003, 128).
- 18.
Eichenberg and Stoll (2011).
- 19.
Note that Boucher (2010), did not find sex to be statistically significant when assessing the impact of casualties on Canadian public support for the war in Afghanistan.
- 20.
- 21.
Simpson (2016).
- 22.
Lagassé and Robinson (2008, 23).
- 23.
Nossal et al. (2015, 315).
- 24.
Shadwick (2004).
- 25.
- 26.
Bercuson (2015).
- 27.
Saideman (2014).
- 28.
Kay (2012).
- 29.
Nossal (2016b).
- 30.
Crosby (2003, 103).
- 31.
Granatstein and Bothwell (1991, 67).
- 32.
Keeble (1997, 559).
- 33.
Lagassé and Robinson (2008, 25).
- 34.
Pugliese (2007).
- 35.
Neck et al. (1995, 168), in Smith (2003, 28).
- 36.
Lawless (2004).
- 37.
I use the word suffer deliberately, because the feminine in patriarchal societies like Canada is devalued.
- 38.
Winter (2010, 591). This gender association goes beyond the linking of specific policy issues such as abortion, healthcare, or defence spending to certain parties, but rather that gendered traits like “statesmanlike” or “compassionate” were viewed as reasons to either support or reject each party; that is to say, Republican supporters viewed their party’s masculinity as favourable, and the Democratic Party’s femininity as undesirable, and vice versa.
- 39.
The origins of this stereotype are complex, transcending the “two solitudes” narrative to include perceptions of national character, the existence of a Protestant (versus Catholic) ethos, and colonial assumptions of gender. For non-feminist analyses of this differentiation, see Haglund and Massie (2016), and Vucetic (2011).
- 40.
For a non-feminist analysis, see Boucher and Roussell (2008).
- 41.
- 42.
Boucher and Roussel (2008).
- 43.
English (2009, 20).
- 44.
Anderson and Coletto (2014).
- 45.
Kennedy (2015).
- 46.
Sabin and Kirkup (2016).
- 47.
Lagassé and Robinson (2008, 33).
- 48.
Shadwick (2004).
- 49.
Nossal (2016, 66).
- 50.
Lagassé and Robinson (2008, 46).
- 51.
Italics in original (Richter 2016, 6).
- 52.
For a particularly florid and personal version of this argument, see Maloney (2016, 200).
- 53.
Hltaky (2016, 4).
- 54.
Liberal Party of Canada (2015a).
- 55.
Akin (2017).
- 56.
Kennedy, in Leuprecht and Sokolsky, “Walmart,” 2.
- 57.
Foroohar (2017).
- 58.
McCormick and Lynch (2017).
- 59.
Liberal Party of Canada (2015b).
- 60.
See, for example, the special issue of Canadian Foreign Policy Journal dedicated to the F-35 question: Canadian Foreign Policy 17:3 (2011) “Canada and the F-35: What’s at stake?”
- 61.
Grazier (2017).
- 62.
Bezglasnyy and Ross (2011).
- 63.
Schaub and Shimooka (2017).
- 64.
- 65.
Vucetic (2011).
- 66.
Richter (2016, 6).
- 67.
Sajjan, quoted in Canadian Press staff, “Liberals take next step on Super Hornet fighter jet deal.” (Canadian Press 2017).
- 68.
National Defence (2017, 39).
- 69.
Ibid., 14.
- 70.
Ibid., 11.
- 71.
Ibid., 23.
- 72.
Ivison (2017).
- 73.
In addition to Ivison (2017), see: Hlatky and Nossal (2017); Nossal is notably suspicious of Trudeau’s pacifist tendencies, and has written extensively of the dangers of “politicizing” defence matters; (Richter 2017); any commentary by Dr. David Perry, senior analyst with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Criticism on the left has also focused on the potential funding pitfalls, as well as the vagueness on peacekeeping (Rideau Institute 2017).
- 74.
Sabin (2016).
References
Akin, David. 2017. Trudeau’s celebrity can actually help us. Toronto Sun, March 7.
Anderson, Bruce, and David Coletto. 2014. Harper, Mulcair, Trudeau – Overall impressions. Abacus Data, August 29. http://abacusdata.ca/harper-mulcair-trudeau-impressions/. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
Bercuson, David. 2015. Canada deserves better answers about the ISIS mission. Globe and Mail, December 18.
Bezglasnyy, Anton, and Douglas Alan Ross. 2011. Strategically superfluous, unacceptably overpriced: The case against Canada’s F-35A lightning II acquisition. Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 17 (3): 239–250.
Bland, Douglas. 2016. Trudeau cannot continue the neglect of the Canadian military. Ottawa Citizen, November 18, 2016.
Boswell, Christina. 2008. The political functions of expert knowledge: Knowledge and legitimation in European Union immigration policy. Journal of European Public Policy 15 (4): 471–488.
Boucher, Jean-Christophe. 2010. Evaluating the ‘Trenton effect’: Canadian public opinion and military casualties in Afghanistan (2006–2010). American Review of Canadian Studies 40 (2): 237–258.
Boucher, Jean-Christophe, and Stéphane Roussel. 2008. From Afghanistan to ‘Quebecistan’: Quebec as the Pharmakon in Canadian foreign and defence policy. In Canada among Nations 2007: What room for manoeuvre? ed. Jean Daudelin and Daniel Schwanen, 128–158. Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Canadian Foreign Policy Journal. 2011. Canada and the F-35: What’s at stake. Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 17 (3): 193–284.
Canadian Press. 2017. Liberals take next step on Super Hornet fighter jet deal. Global News, March 14. http://globalnews.ca/news/3308918/liberals-super-hornet-fighter-jets/. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
Collins, Jeffrey, and Sean Speer. 2017. First principles and the National Interest: Recommendations for a new Canadian defence policy. Macdonald Laurier Institute, March 2017. http://macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/MLI_NationalInterestDefenceF_Web.pdf. Accessed 15 Sept 2017.
Crosby, Ann Denholm. 2003. Myths of Canada’s human security pursuits: Tales of tool boxes, toy chests, and tickle trunks. In Feminist perspectives on Canadian foreign policy, ed. Claire Turenne Sjolander, Heather A. Smith, and Deborah Stienstra, 90–107. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
Cudmore, James. 2014. Sea King replacements: $7.6B Cyclone maritime helicopters lack key safety requirement. CBC News, June 23. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sea-king-replacements-7-6b-cyclone-maritime-helicopters-lack-key-safety-requirement-1.2684036. Accessed 15 Sept 2017.
Eichenberg, Richard. 2003. Gender differences in public attitudes towards the use of force by the United States, 1990–2003. International Security 28 (1): 110–141.
Eichenberg, Rchard, and Richard Stoll. 2011. Gender difference or parallel publics? The dynamics of defense spending opinions in the United States, 1965–2007. Journal of Conflict Resolution 56 (2): 331–348.
English, John. 2009. Just watch me: The life of Pierre Elliot Trudeau: 1968–2000. Toronto: Knopf.
Fitzsimmons, Scott, Alan Craigie, and Marc Andre Bodet. 2014. Canadian public opinion about the military: Assessing the influences on attitudes towards defence spending and participation in overseas combat missions. Canadian Journal of Political Science 47 (3): 503–518.
Foroohar, Kambiz. 2017. UN peacekeepers face new peril in Trump’s push to cut budget. Bloomberg, March 22. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-22/un-s-peacekeepers-face new-peril-in-trump-s-push-to-cut-budget. Accessed 15 Sept 2017.
Granatstein, J.L., and Robert Bothwell. 1991. Pirouette: Pierre Trudeau and Canadian foreign policy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Gravelle, Thomas, Thomas Scotto, Jason Reifler, and Howard Clarke. 2010. Foreign policy belief and support for Stephen Harper and the conservative party. Canadian Foreign Policy 20 (2): 111–130.
Grazier, Dan. 2017. F-35 continues to stumble. Project on Government oversight, March 20. http://www.pogo.org/straus/issues/weapons/2017/f35-continues-to-stumble.html. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
Gutterman, Ellen, and Andrea Lane. 2017. Beyond LAVs: Corruption, commercialization and the Canadian defence industry. Canadian Foreign Policy 23 (1): 77–92.
Haglund, David, and Justin Massie. 2016. Southern (over) exposure? Quebec and the evolution of Canada’s grand strategy, 2002–2012. American Review of Canadian Studies 46 (2): 1–21.
Ivison, John. 2017. Liberal defence plan puts national interest ahead of its own partisan concerns, for now. National Post, June 7.
Kay, Jonathan. 2012. How the tragedy of 9/11 made Canada a better, more sensible country. National Post, September 11.
Keeble, Edna. 1997. Rethinking the 1971 white paper and Trudeau’s impact on Canadian defense policy. American Review of Canadian Studies 27 (4): 550–562.
Kennedy, Mark. 2015. Stephen Harper: The political outsider who sought a revolution. Ottawa Citizen, October 20.
Lagassé, Philippe, and Paul Robinson. 2008. Reviving realism in the Canadian defence debate. Kingston: Queen’s Centre for International Relations.
Lawless, Jennifer. 2004. Women, war, and winning elections: Gender stereotyping in the post-9/11 era. Political Research Quarterly 57 (3): 479–490.
Leuprecht, Christian, and Joel Sokolsky. 2015. Defence Walmart style. Armed Forces and Society 41 (3): 541–562.
Liberal Party of Canada. 2015a. Promoting international peace and security. Liberal Party of Canada. https://www.liberal.ca/realchange/promoting-international-peace-and-security/. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
———. 2015b. F-35. Liberal Party of Canada. https://www.liberal.ca/realchange/f-35/. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
Maloney, Sean. 2016. Towards a new national security policy for Canada. Defense and Security Analysis 32 (2): 199–206.
Massie, Justin, Jean-Christophe Boucher, and Stéphane Roussel. 2010. Hijacking a policy? Assessing Quebec’s “undue” influence on Canada’s Afghan policy. American Review of Canadian Studies 40 (2): 259–275.
McCormick, Ty, and Colum Lynch. 2017. To save peacekeeping from Trump’s budget axe, will the UN embrace fighting terrorism? Foreign Policy, March 29.
National Defence. 2017. Strong, secure, engaged: Canada’s defence policy. National Defence. http://dgpaapp.forces.gc.ca/en/canada-defence-policy/docs/canada-defence-policy-report.pdf. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
Nossal, Kim Richard. 2016. Charlie foxtrot: Fixing defence procurement in Canada. Toronto: Dundurn.
———. 2016b. Canada is back, part 2: Trudeau and the use of force. CDA Institute, January 28. http://cdainstitute.ca/canada-is-back-part-2-trudeau-and-the-use-of-force/. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
Nossal, Kim Richard, Stéphane Roussel, and Stéphane Paquin. 2015. The politics of Canadian foreign policy. Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Pugliese, Daivd. 2007. Trudeau was Canada’s top defence spender: Study. National Post, December 3.
Richter, Andrew. 2016. The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau and defence policy. CDA Institute, November. http://cdainstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Richter_Analysis_November_2016.pdf. Accessed 15 Sept 2017.
———. 2017. A muscular new Canada? Not so fast. Macdonald-Laurier Institute, July 31. http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/a-muscular-new-canada-not-so-fast-andrew-richter-for-inside-policy/. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
Rideau Institute. 2017. New Canadian defence policy neither credible nor affordable. Rideau Institute, June 12. http://www.rideauinstitute.ca/2017/06/12/new-canadian-defence-policy-neither-credible-nor-affordable/. Accessed 23 Aug 2017.
Sabin, Jerald. 2016. Are you man enough? Masculinity in the 105 election. Policy Options, May 26. http://policyoptions.irpp.org/2016/05/26/man-enough-masculinity-2015-federal-election/. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
Sabin, Jerald, and Kyle Kirkup. 2016. Competing masculinities and political campaigns. Paper presented at the 2016 Annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.
Saideman, Steven. 2014. On Harper’s strategy and Trudeau’s quandary. Open Canada, October 6. https://www.opencanada.org/features/on-harpers-strategy-and-trudeaus-quandary/. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
Schaub, Jr., Gary, and Richard Shimooka. 2017. Super Hornets, eh? Canadian airpower falls short on North American defense. War on the Rocks, February 17. https://warontherocks.com/2017/02/super-hornets-eh-canadian-airpower-falls-short-on-north-american-defense/. Accessed 21 Aug 2017.
Shadwick, Martin. 2004. The Chretien legacy. Canadian Military Journal 4 (4): 68–72.
———. 2011. Defence and the 2011 election. Canadian Military Journal 11 (4): 62–67.
Simpson, Jeffrey. 2016. Why Sajjan will be wrestling with military spending. Globe and Mail, January 16.
Smith, Heather. 2003. Disrupting internationalism and finding the others. In Feminist perspectives on Canadian foreign policy, ed. Claire Turenne Sjolander, Heather Smith, and Deborah Stienstra, 24–39. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sokolsky, Joel, and Joseph Jockel. 2016. A defence policy review? Not really necessary. CDA Institute, April, 2017. http://cdainstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/Analysis/Sokolsky_Jockel_Analysis_April_2016.pdf. Accessed 27 Aug 2017.
Solomon, Binyam. 2005. The demand for Canadian defence expenditures. Defence and Peace Economics 16 (3): 171–189.
Tandt, Michael den. 2015. Isis war needs military might, not pacifism. London (Ontario) Free Press, November 17.
Tickner, J. Ann. 2006. Feminism meets international relations: Some methodological issues. In Feminist methodologies for international relations, ed. Brooke A. Ackerly, Maria Stern, and Jacqui True, 19–41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hlatky, Stéphanie von. 2016. Trudeau’s Promises: From coalition operations to peacekeeping and beyond. CDA Institute, June. http://cdainstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/Analysis/images_Analysis_Hlatky_Analysis_June_2016.pdf. Accessed 15 Sept 2017.
Hlatky, Stéphanie von., and Kim Richard Nossal. 2017. Canada’s new defence policy: The short version. CDA Institute, July. http://cdainstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CDA-Institute-Analysis-vonHlatkyNossal-July-2017FINAL.pdf. Accessed 15 Sept 2017.
Vucetic, Srdjan. 2011. The Anglosphere: A genealogy of a racialized identity in international relations. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Winter, Nicholas. 2010. Masculine republicans and feminine democrats: Gender and Americans’ explicit and implicit images of the political parties. Political Behavior 32 (4): 587–618.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lane, A. (2018). Manning Up: Justin Trudeau and the Politics of the Canadian Defence Community. In: Hillmer, N., Lagassé, P. (eds) Justin Trudeau and Canadian Foreign Policy. Canada and International Affairs. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73860-4_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73860-4_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73859-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73860-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)