Harold: "Uncle Red, maybe we should call the Air Force!"
Red (looking at wrist watch): "It's past six o'clock. He's gone home."

Quando omni flunkus moritati

If some country wanted to invade Canada, considering its size, I don't think there are enough Canadians to raise a sufficient military force to defend the country. That's just the way it is. But since you don't generally go around kicking sand in people's faces, why would you need to?

But military force is not the only deterrent that Canada has. Because of its size and topography, not to mention the weather in much of the county during certain times of the year, can you imagine what a bitch Canada would be for some invading force to try to conquer and occupy? That, in itself, would give any potential invader second thoughts. On two occasions, Napoleon's invasion and Hitler's invasion, Russia let winter work for them. That may have something to do with the fact that nobody much seem too enthusiastic about invading the Scandinavian countries. The Swedes are used to it. If what my son tells me is true, people in and around Ottawa are used to it (actually, he said he'd never get used to it). I don't think Canada had much to worry about from the mighty desert-dwelling hordes of Saddam Hussein.

If some country posed an actual threat to Canada, I think the United States would already be deeply embroiled in such a conflict. It is therefore in the interest of the United States to be willing to keep Canada under its own defensive umbrella, and accept whatever military assistance Canada can provide in doing so. Canada has always been there in a pinch, and Canadians have always been stalwart fighters when push comes to shove. In a civilized and sane world, that fact that Canadians disagreed with Bush's policy of pre-emptive strikes is a mark in their favor. Theirs was a much more realistic (or truthful) assessment of what was going on. And since when do Canadians have to be mindless puppets of the United States?

What mighty threatening force is this that the United States has to defend Canada from? The Klingon Empire?

Don Firth