More questions than answers as Canada sends fighter jets to NATO mission

Above: Parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence says Canadians could find out within days how much the NATO mission is costing.

OTTAWA — The Conservative government won’t yet say how much it is spending to send six CF-18 fighter jets to a NATO air-policing mission in response to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

“We’re still in the process of planning, because we’re still not certain where the fighter jets and ground troops and support personnel are going to be stationed with those fighter jets,” James Bezan, parliamentary secretary to the minister of defence, said in an interview on The West Block with Tom Clark.

The reason there may be more questions than answers following last week’s announcement could be because Canada was a bit slow in committing resources, said Maj-Gen (Ret’d) Lewis MacKenzie, a veteran of peacekeeping missions and former commander of UN troops in Sarajevo.

READ MORE: 6 CF-18s headed to Poland to bolster NATO forces response to Ukraine 

The risk lies in the fact the dozens of NATO aircraft being deployed have nothing to do with what’s happening on the ground in Eastern Ukraine, MacKenzie said.

WATCH: Canada was a bit slow in committing resources, said Maj-Gen (Ret’d) Lewis MacKenzie, which could explain why the announcement was so rushed.

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“You can’t sort out belligerence or people taking over buildings or whatever with fast air. You don’t do it,” he said. “The much greater risk is if Putin calls our bluff and sends a mechanised battalion of 800 soldiers across the border into Ukraine. Are we going to attack those with our NATO resources?”

Canada’s jets are expected to be based in Poland. Up to 20 staff officers are also to be deployed to NATO supreme headquarters in Europe to help bolster the Canadian presence.

READ MORE: Deal reached on calming Ukraine tensions – for now

Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday said NATO requested Canada’s participation.

Bezan on Sunday said the specifics of the mission are still in flux as some member states are still figuring out which assets they will contribute.

“But this is about providing good security to all NATO members. We are very hopeful with the decision that was made on Thursday in Geneva,” he said, referring to an agreement reached between Russia and Ukraine on tentative steps to halt violence and calm tensions along their shared border.

Ultimately, though, the de-escalation of tensions rides solely on Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bezan said, echoing U.S. President Barack Obama’s response to the surprise accord, one of support blended with skepticism.

READ MORE: Russia’s Ukraine moves not yet spilling into Arctic Council 

Ukraine is not a member state of NATO and so does not receive automatic protection from the alliance. Neighbouring countries such as Poland, Romania and the Baltic countries are, however, members.

“We’re prepared to defend NATO members under Article 5, which Canada is signatory to, and would expect the same consideration by all NATO members if it was us,” Bezan said.

Article 5 of the Washington Treaty stipulates an attack against one member state should be perceived as an attack against all member states, including Western Europe, Canada and the United States.

Still, MacKenzie said the mission is little more than posturing.

“We’re making a very modest contribution and I don’t think it will go beyond that,” he said. “It’s more of a show of solidarity.”

That show of solidarity in NATO is an important one, MacKenzie said, as the Afghanistan mission revealed a somewhat “fractious alliance.”

Bezan said Canadians could expect to hear the full costs of the mission in “the coming days.”

– With files from The Canadian Press