As Canada conducts its defence review and prepares the next White Paper, it might be worth looking at the recent New Zealand effort and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's response to it:
"Imagine that Australia released a Defence White Paper that refused even in the most veiled terms to discuss China’s destabilising policies in the South China Sea, which didn’t mention Indonesia or Papua New Guinea, and which concluded that ‘Asia has seen some positive security developments in recent years.’
Imagine further that this White Paper offered no substance on equipment acquisition plans, simply pointing to a future statement that may contain details. Imagine a White Paper that says nothing—zero, zip, nada—about Defence spending, not even mentioning the size of the current Defence budget.
Impossible, you cry! No government could get away with that. Allow me to introduce New Zealand’s Defence White Paper 2016, a policy statement that plumbs new depths of vacuity in its desperation to say nothing offensive to outsiders nor to commit Wellington to a precise course of action."
