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Canada can be a depressingly unserious country at times, and it’s easy to see why: We’re spoiled by circumstance. Protected on three sides by oceans and on the other by a nation far more zealous in defence of its borders than we are, we have nothing like the problem with uncontrolled migration that European nations are facing. So our politicians argue over resettling a small percentage of Syrian refugees or a somewhat smaller percentage, and the difference becomes the line between compassion and cruelty.

There is no military conflict or humanitarian disaster anywhere in the world today whose outcome hinges on Canada’s participation. So sending seven CF-18s to fight ISIL or bringing them home becomes the line between “understanding the world for what it is” and “delusional peacenik.”

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Military procurement is an unceasing nightmare. But withdrawing from an unpopular fighter jet program or promising to build ships in a certain port can be useful at election time, and at the end of the day we don’t really need all those jets and ships. No one’s going to invade Canada, and America can’t really defend itself without defending us.