Location Matters – in Real Estate and Continental Defence

Relations between Canada and the United States are, to put it mildly, strained. But despite all the angry rhetoric, neither country will be able to ignore the perennial truth that our geography matters to the defence of both nations.

Most North Americans perceive our place on the planet through historical projections that place North America in the centre, Europe on the right, and Asia on the left. These maps give the impression that Canada is isolated, with the United States and the three oceans as our only neighbours.

Historically, Russia (or the Soviet Union in the previous century) has been the most significant threat to the defence of the United States and Canada. Given our Mercator projection informed imaginations, it might seem that the way to the United States from Russia involves an eastward or a westward “attack” over either the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans. This view places Canada largely out of the fray of any great power competition.

However, a polar projection, looking down on the earth from a point above the North Pole, changes our perception of the relationship between Canada, the United States, and Russia: if we get ‘above the globe,’ Canada is effectively in the middle.

By far the shortest routes from Russia to the contiguous United States – also called the “Lower 48” – are over Canada. These are the routes that were of most importance at the start of the Cold War and were the reason that the United States and Canada formed the North American Air Defense Command in 1958, later named the North American Aerospace Defense Command(NORAD). The Canadian and U.S. governments established the Distant Early Warning (DEW) line, a significant defensive radar line from Alaska, along the Arctic periphery of Canada and across Greenland, as well as a pair of successive East-West radar lines across the ‘middle’ of Canada. These radars were the eyes and ears of NORAD for almost 40 years, allowing NORAD to deter Soviet and Russian bombers from threatening the continent. Canada and the United States set up these defences across the North because that was the best way to protect critical infrastructure located to the south.

Things have changed a lot since the 1950s. First, ballistic missiles replaced bombers as the dominant threat. Then the bombers were armed with cruise missiles instead of gravity bombs. Today’s threats include advanced and hypersonic missiles launched from the air, ships, submarines, or ground launchers. These new cruise missiles travel through the air – more like airplanes than rockets or ballistic missiles – but with advanced navigation, greater range, electronic warfare and stealth-like capabilities and in the case of the hypersonics, much higher speed. At the same time, of course, there are real threats posed by disinformation and other types of hybrid warfare.

But while the threats have changed, the geography remains the same.

And for the record, as Chinese military capability grows and presents a threat, the same geography applies; Canada is in between the United States and their adversaries – China or Russia.

Canada’s position on the northern flank of the United States, and on the shortest direct path to the U.S. from either Russia or China, matters to the defence and security of America today, but in new, modern ways.

For America’s main adversaries, using cruise missiles of whatever generation or capability launched from bomber aircraft, the shortest, quickest, most dangerous avenue of approach and attack will forever be over Canada. While the technologies of the day have evolved, it will always be necessary to “block this route” or deter Russia and China from such an attack. Just because there are now other means to launch an assault, it would be a significant mistake to assume that “they won’t attack that way.” For these “over-the-pole attacks,” new technology can provide better ways to “close off” the northern flank from the modern threats, and Canada needs to follow through on its NORAD Modernization efforts to do so. NORAD Modernization allows Canada, based on its critical geography, to better protect the United States (and itself) from increasingly sophisticated capabilities.

In a more general sense, in today’s complex threat environment, Canada’s position on the northern flank of the United States elevates Canada’s connections relative to America’s defence and security. While United States President Donald Trump’s Iron Dome (or Golden Dome) initiative is aimed at ensuring the U.S. homeland is protected from attacks, a safe and secure America extends as well to threats along the U.S. northern border. As Canada defends itself from attack it also secures the United States’ northern border. Looked at a different way, based on geography, the United States leverages Canada to secure its northern border, the northern flank of America’s defences.

Whether it is air defences or other threats, many countries of the world do not share a border with a friendly or cooperating neighbour, so it may seem that Canada and the United States have alternatives for their self-defences. On one hand, this is true: while it would be less effective and cost more, Canada and the United States could independently assume the defences of their territories and their nations. However, those other neighbouring countries are not placed directly between two nuclear armed, superpower adversaries. Canadians may wish that it was otherwise, but the truth is that Canada occupies prime real estate of considerable interest to the United States in matters of defence.

Canada’s geography brings with it some special responsibilities, as well as opportunities. First and foremost, Americans will be most interested in ensuring Canada contributes to the defence and security of the United States. Given the unchangeable geography, it will always be better if Canada and the United States cooperate on their defences.

Looking down on the Earth makes it apparent that the defences of Canada and the United States are intertwined. This vantage point gives a clear view to the historic and enduring factors that make co-operation on defence in each nation’s best interest. For decades, Canadians and Americans have worked shoulder to shoulder under NORAD to meet these requirements for defence of our countries, but as the world changes the defences need to adapt. What doesn’t change are the geographic realities that make us neighbours and partners.

Canadian and American administrations may struggle to find common ground on trade or any number of issues affecting their citizens’ shared lives on the continent, but in matters of defence and security we will always be bound by our geography. In considering our long-term relationship, Canadians and Americans need to understand that their defence and their security are mutually dependent and interconnected.

Lt.-Gen. (Ret’d) Christopher Coates is Director of National Defence and Foreign Policy at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

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