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.
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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).
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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
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