By Ray Rivers
June 6th, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
It’s not clear how Canada’s $2.6 billion purchase of 26 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) artillery systems from the US government makes Canada strong…. or less dependent on that big bully south of the border.
The whole notion of NATO’s 5% (or even 2%) of GDP spending target for defence is arbitrary. And it was, after all, scripted by the world’s foremost arms exporter. And we, like many other NATO subscribers, mostly buy what America tells us to buy.
High Mobility Artillery Rocket System
So PM Carney promises to liberate us from US 75% domination of our national security infrastructure – and then does this… in the midst of an economic war with the Americans. And buying HIMARS made with US steel when Trump has stifled our industry with a 25% tariff. And how can it be a good idea to buy weapons of war from our war-like neighbour who is threatening to make this country the American 51st state?
Yes, we Canadians understand that a succession of governments of all stripes have allowed our once proud military to erode. And we need to take defending this country seriously. That means more soldiers and submarines and aircraft and drones so we can defend ourselves should the Russians or Chinese arrive uninvited.
But these pricey HIMARS have a missile range of 500 kms – not over the north pole or across the Pacific. They worked great in the crowded battleground of Ukraine, at least until the Russians learned how to block their GPS signals. And should we ever end up in a land war with the Americans we’ll need to remember the Yanks made them and have far more than we do.
German Leopard tanks.
The Minister says we need them because there is currently no Canadian manufacturer for the HIMARS launcher system or associated long-range missile capability. There is probably a good reason for that. Chances are they’ll end up rusting, parked out next to some of the 80 now decrepit German Leopard tanks we bought for that failed mission in Afghanistan. There was no Canadian manufacturer for those either.
Perhaps, since the contract is signed and sealed anyway, the best thing we can do is to redirect them to where they are really needed – over in Ukraine. Unfortunately, they won’t arrive until 2029. With any luck, the war in Europe will be over by then. But, at least, we’ll have had time to find a parking spot next to those rusting 2A4 Leopards.
Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
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Any administration that seriously considers that Canada can either afford or operate a split order of either fighter aircraft or submarines as rumoured is intent on “building Canada weak”, incompetent and only politically motivated.
Michael, thank you for your comments, which I always read. Carney may be just trying to keep Mr. Trump from going ballistic and I totally disagree with him if that is the case. In a world of nations re-imposing import tariffs on goods and services Canada is a slacker – Taking 15% of Canadian digital service fees on foreign oligopolies and using them to encourage development of a Canadian digital industry would be the correct policy for these times. Hopefully Carney will see the light as well.
The correct policy is to provide tax incentives to creators of Canadian content if that is what a government wants to promote. Suppliers of digital services to Canadians is clearly covered under CUSMA, for which there is an arbitration/judicial process. Canada would most likely be ruled against such a tax/tariff. Its not only Trump, Biden was also very much opposed to this tariff were were applying.
Carney claims we have the best deal with the US, and he realized this tax was a breach of that agreement. He has yet to get an agreement for Canada, IMO, its not complex, but puts his polling numbers at risk – so Canadians pay the price for liberal polling numbers. Oil, rare earth metals, drugs and keep China at arms length.
I am not quite sure what you are trying to say. Should we buy plastic tanks so they won’t rust? Should we not buy tanks at all? I thought we gave Ukraine some of our tanks. Did we give them the good ones and keep only the rusty ones? Do you think we should be acquiring long-range ballistic missiles? Maybe we can acquire some from Iran. I suspect the troops we have in Latvia would appreciate medium range missiles. Perhaps they can be used for Arctic defence.
If you are making a case that we should be designing and manufacturing our own tanks and medium range missiles, I am all for that, if it is practical. Maybe we can design the Avro Arrow 2.0. Keep in mind that the only way you can build a successful defence manufacturing industry is to court international sales. Our economy will not support the expenditure on domestic sales alone – see Avro Arrow 1.0. We have shortfalls in the interim that need to be plugged by buying off-the-shelf proven military equipment.
Will you be issuing a retraction or apology to the Leader of the Kings Official Opposition after you tried to discredit him in your last oped for pushing back on the CRTC’s proposed 15% streaming tax now that Carney has taken the advice of the opposition and dropped it?
I guess no comment on the fact that we have seen two consecutive quarters of economic contraction, and 3 quarters of contraction out of the last 4? If you look at GDP growth from 2020 to current in Canada, the trend is a clear decline, well before Trump and all while Carney advising Trudeau.
Canadians are not being duped by the May jobs report as that’s a typical seasonal bump, just as it was October 2025 when the liberals boasted about new jobs only to see a greater pull back in January.
Editors note: It’s an opinion piece Michael. You clearly don’t agree with the writer – just skip it when you see one. Your blood pressure will be lower. Given the country you choose to live in -maybe not.
Yes perplexing? Possibly a “Queens Gambit” for the upcoming CUSMA talks??
Ray, it was refreshing to receive an article that didn’t criticize and hammer Pierre Pollieve. In fact, you didn’t even mention his name. Much appreciated.
Bill