The Liberals just deferred billions in new defence spending in their last budget. As of today, Canada does not have a "blue water" navy. It's not a Chretien/Martin issue or a Harper issue, the military procurement system for large capital projects is fundamentally broken and has been for the better part of the last 20 years. Look at Australia's capabilities vs. Canada - Australia has a coherent strategy for the RAN that is already delivering important strategic results, specifically the Canberra-class amphibious assault vessels (helicopter carriers). The bulk of the ships were built in Spain and fitted out in Australia. Meanwhile Canada dithers. Leftwing blowhards attack the US for their military expenses but are silent on the fact that Canada's Arctic sovereignty could not be defended from Russian aggression without the US deterrent. The only reason China is not actively contesting the Senkakus is because of the US deterrent as part of post-WW2 treaty obligations with Japan.