Canada to flex Asia-Pacific military muscle

In order to up your game and flex your muscles you first need a game to up and muscles to flex

we have neither.

We used to have a pretty decent military base in BC around Abbotsford.... oh right they shut it down and sold much of the land off.

With a steadily shrinking fighter force, and a Pacific Fleet consisting of one elderly destroyer, five patrol frigates, and a questionable sub, we won't be turning any heads in the Pacific Rim, when it comes to the military at least.

We have minimal ability to "project power".

Rather than muse about flexing muscle in the Pacific we need to flex some muscle in the Arctic. In order to do that we need good icebreakers. We've needed them for a long time now and we still don't have them.

It could be a good thing if we actually had military muscle - time for the government to step up and build some.

Maybe you can borrow China's icebreaker. At least with the paint job it could pass for being Canadian.

Yes, that would work!

Back in the 80's it looked like we would build our first large state-of-the-art icebreaker (the "Polar One" project) but it was killed off, by budget considerations I think.

So here we sit in 2012 with still no large icebreakers, and us with a huge expanse of Arctic territory. Meanwhile China, which has no ice of its own to break, has got this impressive vessel. It's rather unbelieveable.

Maybe you can borrow China's icebreaker. At least with the paint job it could pass for being Canadian.



Nah, it's a piece of junk and can only break thin, summer ice;



http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china ... 876712.htm

In Canada, that's a light icebreaker and we have half a dozen or so. Our medium and heavy icebreakers (the St. Laurent and its forthcoming replacement, the Diefenbaker) can do much better than that.

Ah, OK thanks, I was going just by the looks. It looks like a heavy-duty piece of machinery.

Ah, OK thanks, I was going just by the looks. It looks like a heavy-duty piece of machinery.

No worries.

FYI, the St. Laurent is a PC 1 icebreaker, capable of year-round operations in the Arctic. That ship (and the much-promised Arctic Patrol Vessels) are rated PC 5 or 6 - fine for summer patrolling, but not much else.

Our four medium icebreakers are rated PC 3 or PC 4, are fairly capable, but not for year-round Arctic ops.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_class

Here's a list of of our icebreakers, both dedicated ones and multi-role vessels.

http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/NMAB-Icebreaking/Annex-B

I'll have a look at those links, thanks.

I recall the RCN vessels which are under construction, or about to be, called "slush-breakers", but I guess anything helps.

I know we have Arctic air patrol capability, but like "boots on the ground" in a war situation, sometimes there's no substitute for surface capability.

Yep, you do.

Much as the Canadian-made Beaver is one of the best bush planes ever built, we've got quite a bit more than that.

Being new to this forum I can't tell if your post is just humour, or whether there's a sarcastic edge to it.

I'll assume humour.

Passive aggressive humour...