Middle East
- “Canada has 26 special forces ‘advisers’ in Iraq, not 69, says letter to NDP” – “Canada sent far fewer advisers to Iraq than Harper said: source” – “26 Canadian SOF operators now in Iraq”
- Bob Rae commentary “Canada’s role against the Islamic State must be more than just military”
- Point-Counterpoint commentary “Canada needs a war debate” – “Parliament should debate defence policy, not deployments”
- Other commentary “ISIS’s acolytes are mere apprentices at atrocity” – “ISIS threat presents tough decision for Canada”
- “Stephen Harper’s Iraq Airstrikes Plan Questioned By Some Tories”
Way Up North
- “First Arctic Cargo Shipped Through The Northwest Passage — “Fednav, a Canadian-owned company and world leader in Arctic navigation, today announced that its vessel, the MV Nunavik sailed from Deception Bay en route to China via Canada’s Northwest Passage, with a full cargo of nickel concentrate. The Nunavik will be one of the first commercial vessels to transit the Northwest Passage completely, and the first to do so unescorted with an Arctic cargo, and with Canadian expertise ….”
- “Franklin wreck found in Arctic identified as captain’s ship” – Info-machine version: “PM announces HMS Erebus as the discovered Franklin Expedition ship”
- Commentary “Arctic Council Needs Russia, to Continue Working With It”
- “Russia’s Arctic Grab”
- “(Russian news agency) ITAR-TASS posts Arctic war games video”
Other
- “Conservatives to overhaul veterans’ benefits again to placate angry ex-soldiers — The Harper government plans further changes to its oft-maligned veterans charter, hoping to take the political sting out of complaints by ex-soldiers promising to campaign against them in the next election ….”
- “Man in custody, taken to hospital after threat on (Ottawa) Veterans Affairs offices”
- Academic commentary “How the Harper government lost its way on defence spending”
- Commentary “…. The truth of the matter is Canada has for years been able to behave irresponsibly on military matters because we outsourced our defence to the U.S. taxpayer. Ever since President Roosevelt’s 1938 promise that the U.S. would never let outsiders threaten Canada, we were largely relieved of the responsibility most other countries face of offering a credible defence of the nation ….”
- From the Info-machine, a leadership quote (it may be accurate and clear, but would a bit of brevity have killed the contributing writer?): “I don’t have the means to lose even one soldier in Quebec. They are all so valuable. In the military, you see, we like to say that we all have our equipment, our armored vehicles, but that is not worth anything without our primary resource, the soldier. Our military members are so precious, you have no idea. We are working a great deal with the resources we have available, with our programs we have in place, because the medical support is already present, but we are working even harder with our people on the ground to try to wipe out this scourge.”
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