Canada’s new Defence Minister on ISIS—nothing to see here folks

Justin Trudeau and his cabinet were sworn in on November 4 and one of the most interesting appointments was of Harjit Sajjan as Minister of Defence. Sajjan, a 45-year-old Sikh born in India and who came to Canada when he was five, served on the Vancouver Police Department for 11 years, rising to the rank of detective. According to his official biography, Sajjan was a reservist who was deployed to Bosnia once and Afghanistan three times. Achieving the rank of major, he was awarded several medals including the US Army Commendation Medal. No doubt, he was an excellent soldier.

On paper, this was one of young Trudeau’s better appointments. Better Sajjan than newly elected MP Andrew Leslie, a former Lieutenant General in the Canadian Armed Forces. Last year, when asked about Israel, Leslie gave the perfunctory liberal response that Israel has the right to defend itself before accusing the Jewish state of “firing indiscriminately onto Palestinian women and children.” But there is no doubt Sajjan is Justin’s boy. A week after being sworn in as Canada’s Defence Minister, Sajjan was interviewed by the CBC’s Susan Ormiston, who seemed more interested in the minister being called a “badass” than his thoughts on his ministry. But Sajjan did comment on ISIS. He said, “ISIS is a threat, no doubt about that. Should we fear it? No. The Canadian population should have full confidence in all the security services to keep us safe.” Despite having a reputation as an accomplished soldier, he’s been hanging around girly girl liberals too much. Is he saying Canadians are terrified of ISIS and don’t have to be? There may be a teeny tiny majority of people in Canada who are terrified of a terrorist attack but the vast number of Canadians go about their business such as getting on planes and going into office towers without being preoccupied with the potential risk of a terrorist attack. We do not need to be told the omnipresent state is there to protect us. ISIS needs to be defeated.

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Despite having a reputation as an accomplished soldier, he’s been hanging around girly girl liberals too much

Sajjan’s comments are a way of rationalizing the Liberal policy of not having to take military action against radical Islam. In one of his first acts after winning the election, Trudeau told Barack Obama, in a congratulatory phone call, that Canada will be cutting and running from the coalition participating in bombing raids against ISIS. Just sitting back and letting security services do the work is simply not sufficient. The Islamists devise and plan terrorist plots all the time; to do real damage to this country and its inhabitants, they only have to succeed once. And it is trite to say that security agencies occasionally make mistakes. It is possible one successful terrorist attack could end up being more deadly than 9/11. As the Islamists like to say, the West has the watches but they have the time. If not eliminated or substantially weakened, it is only a matter of time before they succeed. Sajjan is an accomplished soldier with a chest full of medals. But this is totally irrelevant in Trudeau’s Canada where this government will likely never deploy troops in a combat role. For all the good the minister will do for the military and Canadians, he might as well have been appointed as Minister of Status of Women. It is hard to forget Trudeau’s interview with the CBC’s Terry Milewski last June when the reporter asked him if he wouldn’t support military action against a group as “ghastly as ISIS, when would you ever support real military action?” The future PM’s condescending answer was “Terry, that’s a nonsensical question.” The reality is Canada under Trudeau would never support any real military action against any country or group no matter how many babies they stomp upon, behead or crucify. Sajjan’s response to the threat of ISIS is similar to Obama’s calling the group the JV team. No big deal. Nothing to worry about. Perhaps the Ministry of Defence should be changed to the Ministry of Parkas and Winter Clothing. That would make the Liberals feel so much better about themselves.