April 8, 2005 NOTE: The following transcript is presented in the language(s) in which it occurred. There is no translation available. We are providing the transcript for your information. Syracuse, New York [ Check Against Delivery ] Introduction I would like to begin by commending the Campbell Public Affairs Institute and the Maxwell School of Syracuse University for bringing together such an impressive and diverse group of academics, government officials and practitioners to consider a number of timely and critical issues related to Canada-U.S. security and defence cooperation. I believe President Kennedy captured the relationship between Canada and the United States best when he said that "Geography has made us neighbours. Economics has made us partners. And history has made us friends." The friendship between our two nations really is extraordinary, based on shared political, social and cultural values and underpinned by a close economic interdependence, which, in turn, is enriched by the personal, academic, athletic and other links that unite us. I believe that a key to this friendship has been our ability to work together for the protection and prosperity of our citizens. We have the most vibrant and dynamic trade relationship in the world with nearly two billion dollars in goods crossing the Canada-U.S. border every day. We share critical infrastructure and important natural resources. And our security and defence relationship is one of the closest in the world. For example, it was a Canadian who was in charge of the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Centre at NORAD on the morning of September 11 th . And that officer, in consultation with the Deputy Commander of NORAD, who was also a Canadian, worked with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and the FAA to assess the threat to the United States and secure the skies of North America. There are very few - if any - countries in the world that have such trust and confidence in each other. Of course, this is not to say that our two nations agree on every issue or every course of action. As we have seen with Canada's recent decision against participation in ballistic missile defence, there are some areas where we have respectfully disagreed. But these disagreements have never diminished our common commitment to the security and defence of our shared continent - a commitment that has grown out of the 1940 Ogdensburg Declaration that North America's security is indivisible. Nor have our disagreements diminished our commitment to working collaboratively with the United States to confront terrorism and promote peace and security around the world. I would like to talk to you this afternoon about some of the changes that have taken place to our continental defence architecture since the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. And I would like to highlight some of Canada's priorities for the relationship as we go forward. Canada's Response to September 11th Our longstanding security partnership with the United States has seen our two countries through the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War and the tumultuous years that followed. But any discussion of the North American security landscape must begin with the September 11 th attacks in the U.S. Although Canada was not the target of these terrible acts, terrorism had come to our North American shores in a real and significant way - and had taken an awful toll on our closest friend and ally. Canadians, too, died that day in New York, a tangible consequence of the close personal, financial and other ties of which I spoke earlier. So like many countries throughout the world, our perceptions of security and defence changed on that day. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks in Washington and New York, Canada's response was unequivocal. We deployed CF-18 fighter aircraft to protect our shared airspace. We welcomed tens of thousands of stranded American air passengers in our communities and our homes. And we committed nearly eight billion dollars - subsequently raised to well over nine billion dollars - to new national security measures, including: increasing our intelligence gathering capability; strengthening our special forces capacity; and enhancing security at our ports and along our borders. Canada also recognized that, in this new type of conflict, we must be prepared to meet threats to our security as far from our country and our continent as possible. This is why Canadian soldiers were deployed to Kandahar in 2001, alongside the 101 st Airborne, to confront the remnants of the Taliban regime and members of Al-Qaeda. This is why the Canadian navy has sent more than fifteen ships to the Gulf region to work as part of the U.S.-led operation, ENDURING FREEDOM. And this is why Canada has consistently been amongst the largest contributors to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. In fact, the Canadian Forces made up nearly forty percent of the entire NATO force in Kabul last year. And General Rick Hillier - who has served as Deputy Commanding General of Third Corps, U.S. Army in Fort Hood and who is now Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff - commanded the overall mission in the Afghan capital. So, for a nation of modest size, we have recognized - and have been prepared to shoulder - our responsibility in the international campaign against terrorism. Not out of a sense of altruism - but to protect Canada, Canadians and our shared continent. I can assure you that our government has not forgotten that Canada has appeared on Al-Qaeda's list of targeted countries. New Domestic/Continental Security Measures Since the September 11 th attacks, Canada has also recognized that we need to do more to secure our part of North America. The terrorists did not strike the United States from Canada. And we are absolutely committed to ensuring that this does not happen in the future. As Mrs. Bloodworth outlined for you this morning, Canada put in place a National Security Policy last year - the first of its kind in Canadian history. This new policy - roughly equivalent to the U.S. Homeland Security Strategy - sets out a broad range of new initiatives to ensure that we are able to counter potential threats to Canada and Canadians in a coherent, integrated and effective fashion. For example, our National Security Policy calls for the creation of Marine Security Operations Centres on both of our coasts - centres that will work closely with the U.S. Coast Guard to monitor and defend our maritime approaches. We also worked very closely with the United States to establish the Bi-national Planning Group in NORAD. Its purpose is to improve, among other things, the coordination of maritime surveillance and intelligence sharing, and to conduct contingency planning in the event of a terrorist attack or a major natural disaster in North America. We are certainly very pleased by the progress that has been made. Canada and the United States are now in the process of building a common, bi-national picture of our maritime approaches. We have updated our plans for natural disasters. We have enhanced the sharing of information and intelligence between our two countries. And we have developed and updated our plans for continental defence and bi-national military support to civil authorities. Of course, the centerpiece of our defence partnership with the U.S. remains the North American Aerospace Defence Command - or NORAD. As I mentioned earlier, its importance was underscored on September 11 th when it helped to restore control of our continental airspace shortly after the terrorist attacks in Washington and New York. Since then, it has increased its operational readiness and tempo and is now responding to threats from both inside and outside North America's airspace. When I visited NORAD headquarters as Canada's Foreign Minister, I cannot tell you how impressed I was by the level of professionalism and cooperation that I saw between our two militaries. Canadians working side-by-side with their American counterparts, separated only by the colour or style of their uniform, to protect our skies, our sovereignty and our citizens. This is exactly the seamless cooperation that is required to address today's security challenges. And I can assure you that our commitment to cooperation will not be diminished by Canada's decision against participation in the U.S. ballistic missile defence program. As partners and neighbours, we are bound to have disagreements. Certainly we have in the past. But our disagreements have never threatened the fabric of our friendship. Nor have they prevented us from working together productively in other areas of the relationship. I fundamentally believe that we are both better served by having partners that make their own decisions based on their own sovereign interests and values while seeking the maximum degree of collaboration and accommodation of one another's perspective. Again to quote President Kennedy, "We do not seek the unanimity that comes to those who water down all issues to the lowest common denominator, or to those who conceal their differences behind fixed smiles, or to those who measure unity by standards of popularity and affection, instead of trust and respect. We are allies. This is a partnership, not an empire. We are bound to have differences and disappointments - and we are equally bound to bring them into the open, to settle them where they can be settled, and to respect each other's views when they cannot be settled." Canada understands and respects the decision of the U.S. Government to take measures that it considers necessary to protect its security, including deploying a ballistic missile defence system. And I am confident that the United States respects our right and obligation to make decisions that are in the best interests of Canada. In fact, when Secretary Rumsfeld was asked about our recent announcement on missile defence, he said that Canada has "made a decision that a sovereign nation can make and it does not damage our relationship whatsoever." Now it certainly is no secret that I was an outspoken advocate for Canada's participation in the ballistic missile defence program. Collectively, however, we decided that we should focus our attention on enhancing our border and maritime security, increasing our presence in Canada's northern region, and significantly strengthening our armed forces. Indeed, my support for ballistic missile defence was very much grounded in a view of the importance of strengthening Canada-U.S. defence relations. Recent Canadian decisions clearly have achieved that end and I believe that the U.S. knows that our increased military capacity will be to their benefit and the benefit of our relations. A Renewed Commitment to North American Defence Canada's decision not to participate in the ballistic missile defence program is not, and should not be interpreted as, a sign that we are not committed to doing our part in the defence of North America. Nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, as part of a comprehensive review of Canada's international and defence policies that we will be releasing soon, one of our key priorities will be to develop a new, more sophisticated approach to our relationship with the United States. This includes strengthening our capacity to defend our shared continent. Since its creation nearly fifty years ago, NORAD has proven to be a highly flexible arrangement - one that has kept pace with new technologies, changing tactics and emerging threats. Canada confirmed its commitment to the bi-national command last August by amending the NORAD agreement so that its missile warning function, which it has carried out for thirty years, would be made available to U.S. commands responsible for missile defence. In so doing, we committed to working with our American partners in ensuring that all information that relates to threats to North America will be available to us both. We believe that it is an appropriate time to consider the possibility of expanding our current defence cooperation to include maritime and land-based elements. NORAD's current mandate is to respond to aerospace threats to our continent. It does not have the authority to counter maritime threats - such as a ship carrying a dirty bomb into New York or Halifax harbour - or to deal with the aftermath of a terrorist attack on North American soil. Given the current international environment, we believe that our current arrangement needs to be more comprehensive. It is unclear, at this point, whether these issues are best tackled within a renewed NORAD or some other forum. But Canada is committed to exploring new ways to work with the United States in the defence of the North American continent. A Renewed Commitment to the Canadian Forces Canada is also committed to strengthening the capacity of our armed forces so that they can do more to protect Canada and Canadians, contribute to continental defence, and play a larger, more significant role internationally. In our most recent federal budget, the Government provided nearly thirteen billion dollars in new funding to our armed forces - the largest funding increase for our military in more than twenty years. In terms of overall defence spending, this new funding places Canada in the top tier of NATO and in the top twenty countries in the world. With this new defence spending, we will be able to increase the size of the Canadian Forces by five thousand Regular Force members and three thousand Reservists. We will be able to invest in new military equipment and capabilities, including: medium-lift helicopters to transport our soldiers in places like Afghanistan and specialized facilities for our elite counter-terrorism unit. And we will be able to move forward with a bold new vision for our military that we are finalizing in our new international and defence policies. Our new vision for Canada's military is based on a thorough assessment of the post-Cold War, post-September 11 world in which we live. And it fits coherently within the broader framework of our National Security Policy, which Mrs. Bloodworth described in detail, and our forthcoming international strategy. Our new vision will fundamentally transform the Canadian Forces to make them more effective, more relevant and more responsive. It will also place a much greater emphasis on the defence of Canada and our common continent. For example, we will be increasing our focus on monitoring and protecting our coasts and maritime approaches. We will be improving the way in which we gather, analyze and use information from a combination of maritime, land, air and space surveillance systems, including satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles. And we will be establishing a single national command structure to respond in the event of a crisis - be it a natural disaster or a terrorist attack. This command structure will also facilitate the innovative, new measures that we are looking to establish with the United States to better defend our continent. Our new vision for Canada's military will also see it playing a much larger, more significant role in the world - one in which our voice will be heard, our values seen, and our efforts felt. Our focus, in particular, will be on restoring order in failed and failing states. When I talked to Paul Wolfowitz about this recently, he understood that Canada is uniquely qualified to undertake this role and can often work in countries where the United States cannot - or does not want to - operate. He also recognized that failed and failing states - such as Afghanistan - often serve as the breeding ground for international terrorism and that we can play a special role in providing the security necessary for their recovery on the road to stable, prosperous states. With our new vision, Canada will be a more effective ally in the campaign against terrorism. In fact, we are now considering taking on an even larger role in Afghanistan. We will also be a more effective partner in building peace, stability and security throughout the world - as we did with the United States in the First and Second World Wars, in Korea, during the Cold War, and in Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti and Afghanistan over the past decade. Trusted partners here at home. Committed allies abroad. Conclusion In speaking of the Canada-U.S. relationship in 1939, Winston Churchill said that the "long frontier from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, guarded only by neighbourly respect and honourable obligations, is an example to every country and a pattern for the future of the world." I could not agree more. Ladies and gentlemen, the partnership between our two nations truly is extraordinary. We share an historic bond that is unparalleled anywhere in the world. We know each other. We trust each other. And we have a long history of working together - as friends and as neighbours. The terrible tragedy of September 11 th has re-focused our collective efforts on protecting our citizens and defending our shared continent. As you heard today from Mr. Heyman and Mrs. Bloodworth, we have made important progress over the past three and a half years. But we recognize that more needs to be done. And I can assure you that our two governments are committed to working together to address the threat of terrorism and enhance the security of our citizens. Thank you. I would be pleased to take any questions that you might have at this time.
