(left to right) Defence Minister Bill Blair (U.S. DOD PHOTO), Richard Shimooka (MACDONALD-LAURIER INSTITUTE PHOTO), Former Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier
By Newell Durnbrooke
Can politicians be trusted to tell the truth? Many Canadians would likely say ‘no’ to that question. Politicians spin information to their advantage in trying to sell the public on their narrative.
It often is left up to the news media to call them out on their fibs and spin.
And boy did that happen in spades with Defence Minister Bill Blair.
Blair was in was in Iqaluit March 6 to announce that the government was going ahead with developing what was being called northern support hubs. The first of these hubs would be located in Iqaluit, Yellowknife and Inuvik, N.W.T., Blair said.
Blair claimed the government was investing $2.67 billion into the project. Originally the budget had already been publicly released as $218 million.
It took some excellent probing by a journalist with Cabin Radio, a top notch news media outlet based in the north, to undercover the ruse. Here is how Cabin Radio described the situation:
“Asked by Cabin Radio about the $218 million and the smaller figure for the next five years, Blair replied: “I’ll be announcing a substantially increased investment in the northern operational support hubs today. It’s about $2.67 billion and it’s our intent to move quickly so that could be done over the next five years.” When the interviewer, repeating back Blair’s answer, said that would mean more than a ten-fold increase in funding, Blair said his government had “come to the realization that there’s a huge opportunity and also a requirement to invest in the North.”
He added: “Last year, before we issued our defence policy update, there was very tepid support for additional defence spending among Canadians. But their world has changed, and Canadians are now insisting that we make investments.”
Later, at a press conference, a Radio-Canada reporter asked Blair: “Last year, you announced $218 million for this infrastructure. Today, it’s $2.67 billion. I was curious what motivated this increase?”
“Conversations that we’ve had with our partners in the North and with the Canadian Armed Forces,” Blair responded.
But it was all a scam. There is no new money, as the Department of National Defence admitted later. It was all about using a different accounting procedure to give the impression there was new money.
Blair was caught out but sadly he has not apologized for trying to mislead reporters.
There were also some other suspicious aspects of this announcement. Neither Blair nor the Department of National Defence/Canadian Forces could provide details about where the other hubs would be located or a timeline for when these hubs would be built.
The whole event came off as a public relations exercise…false claims and few details to give the appearance that the Liberal government was actually doing something about Arctic sovereignty when it really wasn’t. It still remains unknown whether these hubs will be ever built.
But the whole episode shows the value of a news media that is knowledgeable about the issues it covers and is not scared to push back against politicians. It also indicates that journalists should carefully examine in the future all statements coming from Bill Blair and closely look to see whether they are truthful or not.
The F-35 debacle continues to get a lot of media coverage in Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney told journalists March 17 at a news conference in London, England that Canada is looking for another option to the F-35 stealth fighter jet. Discussions have already happened with the French and British on potential replacement aircraft and whether they can be built in Canada.
The reason of course is the increasing belligerent U.S. and the fact that the Lockheed Martin F-35 is entirely controlled by the U.S. as well as that American defence company. That, as some analysts, have pointed out is a strategic vulnerability for Canada.
But not all analysts are supportive of the government’s decision to look at other potential options to the F-35. In a March 18 article on the Global News website, Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, had harsh words for those who are putting Canadian patriotism ahead of collective North American defence.
“Grow up,” said Shimooka. “This is cutting off our nose to spite our face.”
Shimooka suggested U.S. President Donald Trump would never use U.S. control over the F-35 against Canada.
Has Shimooka been living under rock? He is angered by Canadians who put their love for their country ahead of the defence of North America? Has Shimooka not been reading the news about where Trump appears fixated on annexing Canada and destroying our economy? Hundreds of thousands of Canadians could be facing unemployment because of Trump’s threat and Shimooka is only concerned about whether we can protect the Americans?
Also, strangely absent from the Global News story written by Sean Boynton are the details about who funds the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. The right wing think tank where Shimooka is a senior fellow is funded by the Charles Koch Foundation (Koch, a billionaire is a key Republican financier). On Jan. 27, 2025 the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that Charles Koch had put $20 million in a war chest to support Trump cutting taxes for the rich and rolling back regulations hindering Trump-aligned companies. Boynton also didn’t report in his article that the Macdonald-Laurier Institute has received money from Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-35.
The same Global News article also had this doozy from Conservative defence critic James Bezan. Bezan accused the Liberals of playing politics with the process to replace the CF-18s, saying the Royal Canadian Air Force “should have had new fighter jets by now.”
That’s pretty rich considering that Bezan was part of the Stephen Harper government which originally ordered the F-35 and then backtracked and put the acquisition on hold. None of that detail is included in the Boynton article.
Are Canadians boycotting travel to the U.S.? Not according to former Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier.
On March 8, Hillier retweeted the claim that there is no boycott by Canadians of U.S. travel or any cancellations of such trips. It’s all just fearmongering by the Liberals, or so it was claimed.
Hillier took to social media on March 13 to claim that U.S. customs clearance lines in Ottawa and Toronto were jammed packed with Canadians heading to the U.S.
Sure Rick….On March 16, 17, and 18th, U.S. and Canadian news outlets carried the real story – Canadians were cancelling their American vacations and trips in February to U.S. were down by 500,000 such visits.
Hillier hasn’t been shy about showing support for the U.S. He went on X Feb. 15 to complain about Canada and throw his weight behind Trump supporter Kevin O’Leary’s proposal for a common dollar, integrated border and immigration requirements and common economic approaches with the U.S.
The response by Canadians on social media to the retired general has been less than kind. Some have called him a traitor while others say he should just move to the U.S. since he seems to like it down there so much.
