The Canadian Military Needs Improvements – Political Science Essay

The Canadian Military Needs Imrovements – Political Science Essay
The American Heritage Dictionary states that an army is “a large body of people organized and trained for land warfare” (army). This large body of people should not need to be trained in such warfare. Countries should not need

armies, there should be world peace. The world has yet to achieve this, so for now countries like Canada need to be able to protect themselves. Military troops would not have to join the military with world peace. They could get an education and get great jobs to help their country’s economy. There are many reasons Canada needs to improve their military. Firstly, due to Canada’s abundance of fresh water masses, Canada is at threat for war. Secondly, at present terrorists are becoming an increasingly large threat to Canada, therefore Canada needs some military protection. Finally, the United States of America (USA), Canada’s closest neighbour, has a higher military personnel to population ratio than Canada (About the Army: CBC News Indepth: The World Factbook). The Canadian government needs to improve the military for today and the future.

Canada has a high percentage of the world’s drinking water. Many countries have very little water and would be willing to go to war to obtain it. Some countries have already stated that they will go to war for water. These countries include the USA and Israel (BBC News). Meir Ben Meir, former Israeli Water Commissioner said “I can promise that if there is not sufficient water in our region, if there is scarcity of water, if people remain thirsty for water, then we shall doubtless face war” (BBC News). Canada, possessing 20% of the world’s ground water, could be a target for war (Clark, Wallace, 444). If Canada does not improve their military in the near future, it will face difficulties battling desperate countries with water shortages. These nations will be looking to get water from other countries. Canada is a prime target for them to obtain this water. If Canada refuses to sell the water, the other nations will use force to obtain it. Thus the importance of water to human life could easily start World War III. In this case, Canada would need as many troops and vehicles as possible to protect this valuable resource. Today, many countries already have a shortage of water. These countries could be planning attacks for the near future. To prepare for this and protect the country and its economy Canada needs to improve the military.

The increasing danger of terrorists is a reminder that all threats need to be monitored and kept away from the country. As time passes by, the chances of another terrorist attack become more imminent. This time attacks could be on Canadian soil. To protect the country from this kind of threat, Canada must improve their military. Each attack will slowly become more lethal and powerful, mainly because it is becoming easier to get a hold of low and high-tech weapons from around the world (“terrorism”). To protect the country from any threat, Canada must fund an anti-terrorist organization and give more funding to the military. If proper precautions are taken and proper defences are made the chances of the country suffering major damage from an attack will be minimized. As its own territory, Canada has no defences except for the police (Equipment: Weapons). Canada needs to create defence bases around the country. Such defences will ensure that the people of the nation will both feel and be more secure. Canada has recently turned down a Ballistic Missile Defence system (Ballistic Missile Defence). This offer should have been accepted in order to protect the country. Canada needs to make up for the loss of this defence system by improving other defences.

A comparison of Canada to the USA reveals that Canada has an army which is inferior to the USA’s. Canada’s army consists of about 62 000 troops which is minimal when compared to the 700 000 military personnel in the US army (CBC News Indepth; About the Army). Although the USA has a much larger population than Canada, the percentage of their population that is in the military is still greater. The USA has 0.002% of their population in the military, which is double, that of Canada’s 0.001% (About the Army; The World Factbook: CBC News Indepth). For Canada to seem like a powerful country they need to improve their army. In addition, the USA has a lot of weaponry available. Although Canada has many different types of vehicles and weapons, the USA still has more vehicles and weapons in comparison (Equipment: All Equipment; US Military). The USA is now in the process of creating robots, Canada needs to get up-to-date weaponry as well (Sgt. Jewell, Lorie). In order for Canada to appear powerful to opposing nations, it needs to keep up with changing technologies and be more involved with the USA on many operations. Just as the United Kingdom, recently, made themselves seem more powerful by joining the USA in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Canadian forces are in desperate need of improvements. Canada needs to gain these improvements because they are at the risk of being at war because of it’s abundance of fresh water. Also, Canada needs to defend itself from terrorist attacks. Finally, Canada needs to be in line with the USA with armies, and technology. Canada should continue working towards world peace through their many peacekeeping operations. However, until the dream of world peace becomes a reality, Canada must protect itself from the real world threats it faces now.

Work Cited
About the Army. US Army. Soldiers Almanac. 18 June 2005. http://www.goarmy.com/about/personnel.jsp

“Army,” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company.

Ballistic Missile Defence. CBC. 18 June 2005. http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/us_missiledefence/

BBC News. BBC. 18 June 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/677547.stm

CBC News Indepth. CBC. 18 June 18 2005. http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/cdnmilitary/

Clark, Bruce W. and Wallace, John K. Making Connections. Scarborough: Prentice Hall Ginn Canada, 1999.

Equipment: All Equipment. The Canadian Army. 18 June 2005. http://www.armee.forces.gc.ca/lf/English/2_5.asp?FlashEnabled=1&

Equipment: Vehicles. The Canadian Army. 18 June 2005. http://www.armee.forces.gc.ca/lf/English/2_1.asp

Equipment: Weapons. The Canadian Army. 18 June 2005. http://www.armee.forces.gc.ca/lf/English/2_2.asp

Sgt. Jewell, Lorie. “Armed Robots Marching into Battle?” Army News Service 5 December 2005.

The World Factbook. CIA. 18 June 2005. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2119rank.htm

“Terrorism.” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 18 June 2005.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564344/Terrorism.html