"Canada will never be a warrior nation"

Babble on.

This sad admission comes from Senator Colin Kenny, the closest thing the Canadian parliament has to a hawk.

I'm not a warmonger, but I'm not a pacifist either - to me a pacifist is someone who would let you die to satisfy his morals. And unless we can be guaranteed that Canada will never again be confronted with a challenge requiring warriors, I say we must retain the capability to become a warrior nation.

Kudos to Senator Kenny for continuing to bring attention to an important issue, even though it discredits his own Liberal party. Paul Martin and his band of rudderless career influence-peddlers and power-chasers must be held accountable, if not for the decades of mismanagement that led our military to its current depleted state, then for their complete failure to even begin the process of reconstituting our country's military capabilities.

Babble off.

Update: Lorne Gunter comments on the most recent unintended consequences of starving and ignoring our military:

Canada has become a finger-pointer and a cheque-writer in international affairs, not a sleeve-roller. We've done much to be proud of in tsunami relief, but we could have done so much more. And there is a chance much of our well-intentioned assistance will come to naught because, as a nation, we no longer have the capacity to carry our kindness the last, most difficult steps. (Babbler's 'hell, yeah' bold)

As a nation, when did we forget how to roll up our sleeves? How did we let ourselves forget? And what will it take to shake us into sleeve-rolling action again?