After Afghanistan: Sustaining Support for Canadian Hard Power

Authors

  • Colin Robertson Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs

Abstract

The Canadian Armed Forces are likely our most respected institution. But what happens when the war ends and the soldiers come home and return to peacetime life and they're not on the front pages anymore? And governments are returning to deficit cutting so the military will be a very ripe target. How do we avoid making them our 'peace dividend'? CDFAI Senior Research Fellow Colin Robertson is a recently retired career diplomat who served in New York, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and in Washington and he will offer a perspective on the challenges and what we need to do to sustain support for a strong, muscular Canadian Armed Forces.

Author Biography

Colin Robertson, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs

Colin Robertson is Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and Senior Research Fellow at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute http://www.cdfai.org/ He is the current president of the Canadian International Council’s National Capital Branch. http://www.canadianinternationalcouncil.org/ottawa He writes on international affairs and provides commentary to radio and television. He recently directed a project at Carleton University’s Centre for Trade Policy and Law with the support of the Federal and Provincial Governments and the private sector on Canada-US Engagement. http://www.carleton.ca/ctpl/conferences/Canada-US-Project-2008.htm A career foreign service officer, he served as first Head of the Advocacy Secretary at the Canadian Embassy in Washington and Consul General in Los Angeles, with previous assignments in Hong Kong and in New York at the UN and Consulate General. A member of the team that negotiated the Canada-US FTA and NAFTA he is co-author of Decision at Midnight: The Inside Story of the Canada-US FTA. He has taught at Carleton University and the Canadian School of Public Service. He served as president of the Historica Foundation. He was editor of bout de papier: Canada’s Journal of Foreign Service and Diplomacy and president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. His smartest decision was marrying his wife Maureen Boyd, a Vancouverite, former journalist and author. They have three children, Allison, Sean and Conor. Robertson reads voraciously, runs, swims, cycles, cross-country skis and plays tennis badly.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2010): Winter 2010

Section

The Ross Ellis Lecture in Military and Strategic Studies