A country that has never been attacked wants to spend billions on a radar system instead of spending this on better health care, or better roads, or less taxes taken from taxpayers.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday announced a radar purchase from Australia and an expansion of military operations in the Arctic while visiting Canada’s far north in an effort to assert sovereignty over the increasingly contested region. The prime minister’s office said the Canadian $6 billion ($4.2 billion) Over-the-Horizon Radar system will provide early warning radar coverage from the Canada-United States border into the Arctic.
“Arctic sovereignty is a strategic priority of our government,” Carney said. ““Canada is, and forever will be, an Arctic nation.”
The Australian radar system will consist of a series of pillars almost a mile (1.6 kilometers) in length. Officials said that the system would have a smaller footprint than what the similar American system would take up. The purchase has been well received by top military officials in the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the joint U.S.-Canadian military command that overseas threats over the two countries. But the officials said they couldn’t say how the Australian purchase would be received politically by Washington.
The government will also spend Canadian $420 million ($294 million) to expand Canada’s Arctic operations and training exercises and deploy more personnel. He said Canada will have a “greater sustained year-round presence.”
https://apnews.com/article/canada-carney-arctic-circle-greenland-d44e557453bc402a8c4e617041e262b0
