In tough times it's tempting to slash military budgets -- but that spending is a key to cross-border trade and prosperity at home.

The federal government is looking for ways to scrape up some new money to help bolster the Canadian economy and keep at least a few Canadians employed.

The forestry industry and the auto industry have been shedding jobs at a staggering rate. Both have asked for a billion dollars from Ottawa. Whether or not the feds cough it up, they are going to have to do plenty of financial stimulation if they hope to staunch job losses.

 

Unfortunately, the Harper government has already squandered $12 billion a year to shrink the GST from seven to five per cent. It was a political gesture that appalled economists and left most Canadians yawning. It also left the government's financial cupboard decidedly bare.

 

So where will the government try to cut spending -- and where will it subsequently invest to help create jobs?

 

My fear is that this government will emulate its predecessors, both Liberal and Conservative, and try to steal from the Canadian military budget to raise funds.

 

This would be a huge mistake. If the Harper government wants to create jobs, it would be far better off to invest more in the Canadian Forces.

 

A Conservative government under Brian Mulroney and Liberal governments under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin combined to eviscerate the Canadian military in the name of reducing the national debt. That's a worthy cause, but starving the military is counter-productive to Canada's survival as a prosperous, sovereign nation.

 

The current government has talked as though it takes the security of Canadians seriously, but it hasn't come through. Early commitments to recruit and grow appear to have been abandoned.

 

Canadians seem sanguine that their military is robust because we have soldiers engaged on the battlefront in Afghanistan. But hiding behind the muscular Afghanistan image is a military without the people or resources to defend Canadians and better their lives.

 

Yes, Canada has proven that it can keep 1,000 fighting troops in the field at any given time, but that's miniscule if we intend to protect and advance Canadians' interests. Even the modest Afghanistan deployment has all but hamstrung efforts to grow and modernize the Canadian Forces, which this government had promised to do.

 

And by honouring that promise, the government could go a long way toward solving the jobs crisis it is currently faced with. Everyone knows that exports create jobs. Everyone also knows that Americans are by far our most important customers, but we're having trouble selling to them lately.

 

It's not just because the U.S. economy is sagging or that the Canadian dollar has been overvalued. U.S.-Canadian border crossings are clogged. One suspects that many American politicians are thrilled that the thickening of the border reduces Canada's attractiveness as an investment location for firms that want to serve American as well as Canadian markets. After all, if the borders are a problem, why not locate in the U.S. instead?

 

Those clogged borders are non-tariff barriers to trade. What to do? It's going to be a chore to convince a Democratic administration with a protectionist mantra that it is in both countries' interests to make those border crossings workable again.

 

How do we get a new U.S. administration then to help solve our problem? Cut off their oil and gas? We can't -- it's illegal. Offer them our water? Unthinkable. Remind them we're best friends? Countries don't need friends. They need allies that have something hard and useful to offer.

 

We have to be able to offer the president something he needs if we are going to convince his new administration that it should resist inevitable congressional pressure to shut Canadian products out of U.S. markets.

 

That something is significant military assistance, both to defend the continent and deploy abroad when it makes sense. (Iraq did not make sense, but the new president is a more thoughtful man than George Bush, and Canada should be able to work with him.)

 

Sensible military assistance is not too much to offer an ally so essential to our well being -- especially if it gives us a preferred seat at the table in Washington when issues are discussed that are vital to Canadian job creation.

 

There's more. The Canadian Forces are 20,000 people short if they're required to be able to offer a minimum degree of protection to Canadians and to deploy in more than one place at a time when needed. But recruitment has stalled and the government has cut back an earlier promise to expand the Forces. There will never be a better time to recruit than the present, with so many young people looking for work.

 

There's even more. The Canadian Forces needs $1.5 billion worth of trucks to replace an outmoded fleet. Let's put that order through as quickly as possible -- in Ontario.

 

The Canadian shipbuilding industry has become extremely sophisticated. It is capable of spearheading the many contracts that will have to be signed if Canada's navy is going to serve anywhere outside a bathtub.

 

Why not come to a carefully monitored, long-term agreement with the industry that would guarantee thousands of good jobs into the future, an agreement that would replace the unpredictable and occasional awarding of contracts that makes it difficult to build a reliable work force? That would create jobs in the Maritimes, Quebec and British Columbia.

 

Build Canada's military. Build Canada's economy. Dollars and sense.

 

Colin Kenny served as chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence during the last two parliaments.

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