The Canadian Navy needs rebuilding. The critical question is how and to what end for clearly there has been a revolution in military affairs that circumscribes surface combatants - putting them at great risk.
Captain Alfred Mahan was the first to assert that the history of Western civilization has been the history of sea power. Sea power is the ability to exert control over the "wide common" of the oceans, and deny it to others. Almost 95 % of trade that crosses international boundaries is waterborne, as is 99.5 % of the weight of all transcontinental trade.
Control of the sea remains the fulcrum of western civilization and the keystone of the international rule of law. Canadian geopolitical strategy cannot be effected without significant naval power. Strengthened Canadian foreign policy cannot be effected without significant resource allocations over an extended period.
