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From the archives

Operative Words

Behind the campaign curtain

Jeff Costen

Snuffed Torch

Can the Olympic myth survive?

Laura Robinson

Lax Americana

What happens if Donald Trump returns to the White House?

Srdjan Vucetic
Our Contributors

Philippe Lagassé

Philippe Lagassé is a professor of public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa and a fellow with the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.

Articles by
Philippe Lagassé

An Army Astray

Canada's long-standing struggle between the military and politicians July–August 2014
Relations between Cabinet, senior bureaucrats and the Canadian Forces have been tense of late. Arguments about the role of civilians in overseeing the military’s operations in Afghanistan led General Rick Hillier to criticize the interference of “field marshal wannabes” in his farewell speech as chief of the defence staff. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sought, with a good deal of…

The Siren Song of Independence

Why Canada doesn’t need a navy that can go it alone March 2013
In the summer of 2010, the Canadian government unveiled the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. The NSPS is meant to award shipbuilding contracts worth $33 billion to two Canadian shipyards. To calm the regional politics that often accompany defence procurements, Cabinet ministers delegated the selection of the yards to a committee of senior bureaucrats, and ensured that the names of the competing firms would be kept secret throughout the…