Over 30 years of Liberal Party incomprehension and neglect have turned Canada's once-proud armed forces into a sick joke. Here's the latest bit of proof: soldiers unarmed in Afghanistan, and assigned German bodyguards. We've covered this kind of stuff before; it's not a pretty picture.

In light of fiascos like these, it's worth noting that the Canadian Alliance party recently presented "The New North – Strong and Free: Protecting Canadian Sovereignty and Contributing to Global Stability", the Defence Policy White Paper of the Official Opposition. (Full white paper here: PDF format, 809K)

My overall assessment: unimaginative, a major improvement to be sure but misses a lot of opportunities for capabilities that would both provide serious international leverage and face little to no political opposition. Does not seem to be driven by a clear conception of Canada's role in future conflicts, or of where and how we propose to play on the ground vis-a-vis the Americans.

Despite all that, the paper is worth reading as a starting point in the debate - and if you aren't Canadian, for a sense of what the opposition thinks. I'll have more on my own ideas for revamping the Canadian military in a future post.