Defence Scheme No . 1 Defence Scheme No . 1 was a plan created by Canadian Director of Military Operations and Intelligence Lieutenant Colonel James " Buster " Sutherland Brown , for a Canadian counterattack of the United States . Targets . Defence Scheme No . 1 was created on April 12 , 1921 and details a surprise invasion of the northern United States as soon as possible after evidence was received of an American invasion of Canada . It assumed that the Americans would first attempt to capture Montreal and Ottawa , then Hamilton , Toronto , the prairie provinces , and Vancouver and southwest British Columbia . Defence Scheme No . 1 ' s American counterpart was War Plan Red , a plan to invade Canada as part of a war with Britain , created in 1930 . The purpose of invading America was to allow time for Canada to prepare its war effort and to receive aid from Britain . According to the plan , Canadian flying column s stationed in Pacific Command in western Canada would immediately be sent to seize Seattle , Spokane , and Portland . Troops stationed in Prairie Command would be sent to attack Fargo and Great Falls , then move to Minneapolis . Troops from Quebec would be sent to seize Albany in a surprise counterattack while Maritime troops would attack Maine . When resistance to the Canadians grew they would retreat to their own borders , destroying bridges and railways to hinder American pursuit . Reconnaissance . Lt . Colonel Brown himself did reconnaissance for the plan , along with other lieutenant - colonels , all in plainclothes . These missions took place from 1921 and 1926 . As historian Pierre Berton noted in his book " Marching as to War " , the investigation had " a zany flavour about it , reminiscent of the silent comedies of the day . " To illustrate this , Berton quoted from Brown ' s reports , in which Brown recorded , among other things , that in Burlington , Vermont , the people were " affable " and thus unusual for Americans ; that Americans drink significantly less alcohol than Canadians ( this was during Prohibition ) , and that upon pointing out that to Americans , one responded " My God ! I ' d go for a glass of beer . I ' m going to ' Canady ' to get some more " ; that the people of Vermont would be serious soldiers only " if aroused " ; and that many Americans might be sympathetic with the British cause . Reaction . Despite Berton ' s description of the plan and its creator as " quixotic " , Berton notes the plan had its supporters . These included General George Pearkes , who remarked that Defence Scheme No . 1 was a " fantastic desperate plan [ which ] just might have worked . " Christopher M . Bell , however , criticizes the plan as " suicidal " . Brown did not coordinate with the British , so did not know that the Royal Navy thought that defending Canada was impossible and did not plan to send a large army there . His plan would thus have sacrificed the best Canadian troops for no reason . Brown also did not understand the importance of keeping Halifax , Nova Scotia — one of the main targets of an American invasion — and other Atlantic ports open . Bell states that Canada ' s best strategy would have been to — as the Americans expected — engage in a defensive war . In 1928 Defence Scheme No . 1 was terminated by Chief of the General Staff Andrew McNaughton , who sought peaceful US - British relations . Many of the documents relating to the scheme were accordingly destroyed . While never fully justified , when declassified information about the United States ' War Plan Red was released Defence Scheme No . 1 demonstrated the foresight of such an operation , especially in that it was prepared before War Plan Red was researched .