Canada Leads From the Sea

Canada is responding to the calls for help by the World Food Program and will be sending a frigate to escort food shipments bound for Somalia.

Canada's Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Wednesday that the Halifax, Nova Scotia-based HMCS Ville de Quebec frigate will be diverted from a NATO mission in the Mediterranean.

MacKay says the warship will escort U.N. World Food Program vessels traveling into Somali ports. He says Canada has agreed to help Somalia since the country is facing serious food shortages and could run out of food stocks by mid-August.

MacKay says the Ville de Quebec is en route. The frigate will report to the Canadian Forces Task Force in the Arabian Sea until about the end of September.

Just an observation, but has anyone else noticed how under the new Canadian government, Canada seems to consistently step up and do the dirty work in the backward places of the world. Task Force 150 leadership may have just been a matter of timing, but in this case they don't have to do it, and given the pirates are attacking European ships, one would think Europe would do it.

Escorting food shipments isn't sexy, and it costs money. Hopefully Spain and France can come up with a plan and manage the Somalian piracy issue, because the US won't do it, and Canada's Navy isn't big enough to do it longer than short stints and still meet their own national requirements.

This issue would be a great way for the US and China to build partnership. Joint cooperation with Type 022s and US Navy logistics and a touch of European ISR. Just saying...

For those who don't quite understand why the US Navy can't just solve the problem, here is a quick example. Essentially the concentrated area where piracy is happening off Somalia is about the size of Missouri. How many police cruisers do you need in the state of Missouri to stop speeders? That's an analogy of what you need to cover a similar sized area at sea and hunt pirates.

EagleOne has more details on the Canadian activity here, and concludes with a brilliant question.