SENATORS MCCAIN AND GRAHAM MEET NEW CANADIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000908

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2018
TAGS: PREL NATO MOPS AF CA
SUBJECT: SENATORS MCCAIN AND GRAHAM MEET NEW CANADIAN
FOREIGN MINISTER

Classified By: Scott Bellard, reasons, 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: In a meeting on June 20, new Foreign
Minister Emerson welcomed Senators McCain and Graham and
Ambassador Wilkins to Ottawa, and emphasized progress
Canada's Conservative government had made on re-equiping and
enlarging the Canadian Forces (CF) as well as the political
support the government had engineered in order to sustain the
CF deployment to Afghanistan through 2011. Emerson expressed
growing concerns by the flow of fighters and materiel from
Pakistan to Afghanistan. End summary

Rebuilding Canada's Armed Forces
--------------


2. (C) During a June 20 visit to Ottawa during which Senator
John McCain made a widely publicized speech to the Economic
Club of Toronto and separately met with prominent business
executives along with Senator Lindsey Graham, the two
Senators called on new Minister of Foreign Affairs David
Emerson in his Parliamentary office, accompanied by
Ambassador Wilkins. (Septel will cover their meeting with
outgoing Chief of National Defence General Rick Hillier.) FM
Emerson asserted that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's
Conservative government was proud of its role in rebuilding
the Canadian Forces after over a decade of neglect at the
hands of previous governments. The Conservatives had and
would continue to invest in recruiting soldiers for Canada's
growing military and in equipping and training them, he
insisted. The CF had already bought four C-17 aircraft, he
noted, and was in the process of procuring replacement fleets
of 16 C-130s and 17 CH-47s. With an eye on the Arctic, he
said, Canada was also rebuilding and procuring naval assets.
But the government's top, long-term priority was to re-make
Canada into a "mature" and reliable security and defense
partner of the U.S. and Canada's other NATO allies.

Afghanistan
--------------


3. (C) Responding to Senator McCain's query about Canadian
stay-power in Afghanistan, Emerson said that there was
adequate bipartisan political support for the Afghanistan
mission in Canada, but that this support had come at the
price of pegging 2011 as the end of Canada's military
presence in Kandahar. Senator Graham asked if 2011 was a
"hard date," and Emerson responded that the government was
treating it as such. Canada's greater focus on bolstering
Afghan security force capability, reconstruction and
development, humanitarian programs, and the policing of the
Afghanistan-Pakistan border were all linked to the effort to
increase public support in Canada, Emerson added.


4. (C) Emerson expressed Canada's appreciation for U.S.
efforts to help Canada procure and quickly deploy helicopters
and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),as well as for the
current and future deployments of U.S. troops to ISAF
Regional Command South (RC-S) and, specifically, to Kandahar.
The troops collaborate closely, he noted, allowing the U.S.
and Canada to "leverage" their work. Turning from Kandahar
to Kabul, Emerson observed that donor governments would have
to turn up the pressure on President Karzai to rein in
rampant corruption in order, again, to maintain public
support for the mission in Canada and other ISAF member
states. Senators McCain and Graham remarked that the Afghan
Qstates. Senators McCain and Graham remarked that the Afghan
Attorney General seemed to be honest, hard working, and
therefore worthy of allied support. Emerson said he had not
yet met the man, but would look forward to doing so.

Pakistan
--------------


5. (C) Senator McCain welcomed President Sarkozy's decision
to deploy French troops to ISAF's Regional Command East
(RC-E) near Pakistan. Emerson agreed that France's move was
good, but added that Canada was preoccupied by the need to
staunch the flow of fighters and materiel from Pakistan to
Afghanistan mostly through RC-E and RC-S. This flow had
become the "Achilles heel" of the mission, he remarked, and
all signs indicated that dealing with the Pakistan government
would likely become even more demanding with time. Senator
McCain said he shared Emerson's concerns about Pakistan,
particularly the deals the new government was cutting with
militants in the FATA, as they were "headed towards failure."

OTTAWA 00000908 002 OF 002


Hopefully, he said, the Government of Pakistan would come to
that realization and adjust course in the near future.
Minister Emerson agreed with Senator McCain's assessment.


6. (U) Senators McCain and Graham did not have an
opportunity to clear this cable.

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