US President-elect Donald Trump didn’t say ‘pretty please’ when he told our dancing Swiftie prime minister Canada must pay its share of NATO defence spending.Trump’s warning to Justin Trudeau and freeloading NATO nation leaders is clear — cough up your percentage of GDP on defence, or the US blood and treasure you take for granted won’t protect you anymore.Unlike Trudeau who selectively protects Canadians, Trump fights for all Americans. Unlike Trudeau whose pride lies elsewhere, Trump is fiercely proud of the military. Unlike Trudeau who mastered the art of vacant promises, Trump does what he says he’ll do.What can Canada expect when Trump is sworn in as the 47th president next month?“I’m not a Trump guy, but Trump is going to kick us in the ass,” said Maj.-Gen. (ret’d) Dean Milner.“Everybody relies on the Americans. I totally agree with Trump. He said if you don’t start pulling your weight and spending your 2%, I won’t protect you. That’s a serious statement.”“From south of the border, he’s gonna be on our case all the time. We’re spending 1.3% now. We should be spending as much as 3% on defence, not just 2%. We need to freaking start pulling our own weight.”Since 2015, the Trudeau government has “beaten up” the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) while pushing a failed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) experiment. Tampons in male washrooms didn’t boost recruitment in a military at half the strength it should be. Desperately needed equipment is years away from delivery. The Liberals also need a kick in the backside from this side of the border — strong enough to boot them out of power next year.In the meantime, pressure must come from Canadians refusing to let politicians fail in their duty to maintain a strong military.“We need to fight back against weak governments like we have right now.”“We don’t stand up enough against them. Our defence, the Canadian Armed Forces, is falling apart. They’re becoming so tiny and embarrassing because this government isn’t supporting them.”It’ll take a “grassroots uprising” to force government to act, which Milner aims to inspire in his new role as president of the Royal Kingston United Services Institute (RKUSI).How do you combat entrenched indifference and incompetence?“We fight. We can talk it up more … Get it into the community. Get it into businesses. Spread the news. It becomes like a grassroots uprising, talk about the Forces.”The institute, one of about 20 across Canada with CAF, CSIS, RCMP and civilian membership, promotes meeting defence and security commitments. The “mothership” is the Canadian Defence Association Institute (CDAI).“My mandate is to demonstrate our passion and desire to promote and encourage defence talks and what are our problems.”“I’m going to fire these guys up,” said Milner referring to politicians at all levels and Canadians from all backgrounds.“I'm going to do my best. I'm just a little, you know, retired guy, but this institute connects into Ottawa. Believe me, I’m going to drive the information to Ottawa.”What the respected Milner says carries tremendous weight. He served a distinguished 38 years, then three years as colonel of the Regiment of the Royal Canadian Dragoons.Milner was the last commander of the CAF’s 12-year mission in Afghanistan.His was a formidable voice testifying at the committee hearings into Canada’s disastrous exit from Afghanistan.“My vision will be to reinvigorate it, bring our numbers back up.”“It's timely now because our Canadian Forces don't have enough money. They don't have enough equipment. There are wars in Ukraine, wars in the Middle East, and our forces could barely sustain any kind of deployment for any length of time. We don't have the weaponry.”Milner offered a sober warning about the military’s ability to protect Canadians.“If you’ve got a natural disaster in Canada, with our attempts to focus on fighting wars abroad, we’d have a hard time sustaining helping out with a fire fight, a flood … We can’t help our country if we have a natural disaster.”“There's no real sense of urgency to, and that’s kind of an understatement, get things going.”Trudeau recently told a NATO summit in Montreal that Canada’s on a clear path to meet the 2% target — by 2032.“Trudeau has always got a plan, but he doesn’t actually keep it. He’s got a plan to get to 2% by 2032. That’s not good enough. He’s not serious. He’ll put money into everything else but defence … He needs to seriously look at what discretionary funds he has and start putting it towards the military.”“He’s not backing up his words. There’s no sense of urgency even with our defence minister (Bill Blair) on how we’re going to be a real player, a real teammate with NATO.”Trudeau’s credibility is shot.“When Trudeau’s in the news at the G20, I laugh every time I see him because I think people are laughing at him. He thinks he’s highfalutin and looks good in the cameras and stuff like that, but he's not doing anything.”“He’s more about DEI. We don’t need that. We need warriors. We need doers. We need the right people.”Strong defence under Trudeau’s misguided Liberals may be a lost cause. Skewed priorities. After Trudeau’s speech to NATO, CAF brass sanctioned a questionnaire going after ‘extremist’ troops wearing Make Canada Great Again hats.Trudeau urged NATO attendees to press supporting Ukraine’s military efforts. Canada’s contributed tens of unaccounted for billions.Trudeau boasted about Canada leading the 13-nation NATO brigade in Latvia to stave off potential Russian aggression but omitted important details.“We committed to sending a brigade minus, not a full brigade, troops into Latvia. We’re not going to be able to sustain that. We have about 1,400, going up to 2,000 in Latvia training with other European countries.”A full brigade is 3,000-4,000 troops.While Trudeau frets about Russian aggression abroad, Canada remains ill-prepared to defend the Arctic.“Another challenge is our north is vulnerable. We just bought Arctic operational patrol vessels (AOPV). We bought four of them. They can break through the ice, but don’t have any weapons on them.”“They’ll be up there to identify and say hello when the Russians are moving around in their submarines and ships full of armament. They’ve got a 25-mm gun, the same gun we’ve got on our vehicles. It’s ridiculous. Sure, you can have a couple of those, but you’ve gotta have ships capable of firing back.”Two more AOPVs will be delivered in the $5-billion contract.After “years of dithering” Trudeau committed to replacing Canada’s aging F-18 fighter jet fleet with 5th generation aircraft. The F-35s arrive in 2035.“The battlefield’s become so complex we need drones that drop bombs and are armed.”Canada’s first two MQ-9B combat drones are on the production line to be delivered in 2028.Manpower?“We’re at less than 60,000. For a country of 40 million, our forces should be easily 100,000.”“I don’t think we’re doing a good job recruiting and showing what the Canadian Forces are all about. When was the last time you saw an advertisement on television talking about our Canadian Armed Forces?”Those trying to enlist face obstacles, according to Gen. Jennie Carrigan, chief of the defence staff.“She told me, and I was kind of surprised, that we’re getting more knocking at the door but we’re not getting them in because the processes are so locked up. That’s part of the problem, but I still don’t think there’s enough people wanting to join.”Milner said Canada shirked its commitment to NATO before Trudeau. When former prime minister Stephen Harper left “I think we were under 1%.”Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre talks about increasing defence spending and pledged to change the military from woke to warrior but is short on specifics.“Poilievre, what’s his defence plan? …What’s his recruiting plan? What’s his plan to build our defence industry to support them to build? Give us a plan. If you’re going to take over, if you’re going to win the election, build a plan.”Other retired generals have sounded the alarm, including Lt.-Gen. Michel Maisonneuve, former chief of the defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier, and Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie.“They’re passionate as well about getting this country back on track.”“Our country is left leaning. Our country isn’t happy with Trudeau. I’m not convinced that bugger isn’t going to win.”“We have enough of them supporting the bloody Palestinian’s, burning the Canadian flag. They get away with that in Toronto, in Montreal. Burning a Canadian flag so they can fly a bloody Palestinian flag. What the hell.”Trump said American flag burners get jailed one year. Trudeau said nothing.Milner said: “You burn our flag in front of me? Holy sh*t, I’ll have a friggin’ army breathing down your neck.”Hope floats in anticipation of this “little retired guy” inspiring Canadians to breath down the government’s neck to strengthen our military.
