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Guns and butter: The true cost of Canada’s military spending is yet to be tallied

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An opinion column by E ric Reguly, European Bureau Chief, from the July 10 Globe and Mail.  A goal of Peace Train Canada is to urge the federal government to create opportunities to talk about military spending and to maintain Canada's historic commitment to peacekeeping. Canada will never be a military powerhouse. But it is making up for lost time during the post-Cold War years, when spending on fighting machines sank to risible levels. As various MPs have stated, Canada had planes that wouldn’t go up and submarines that wouldn’t go down, and still does for the most part. Today, only one of Canada’s four rust-bucket submarines is in service and its CF-18 fighter jets are twice the age of some of its pilots.   Canada’s fighting stance will soon change. Ottawa has ordered fleets of the latest-generation fighter and surveillance aircraft and naval and Arctic patrol vessels whose collective costs over their lifespans will come to hundreds of billions of dollars. Spending on d...
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Canada cuts its UN peacekeeping forces as it tilts to Europe and Indo-Pacific

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From the Aug. 3 Globe and Mail. A goal of Peace Train Canada is to urge the federal government to maintain Canada's historic commitment to peacekeeping. Walter Dorn, quoted below, is an advisor to the Peace Train. Ottawa’s decision to slash its troop contribution to United Nations missions is sparking concern that the cuts will undermine Canada’s new Africa strategy and jeopardize its longstanding peacekeeping traditions.   By the middle of next year, the Department of National Defence says, Canada will withdraw its peacekeepers from UN missions in Congo, South Sudan, Kosovo and Cyprus and sharply reduce its role in a multinational mission in the Sinai. Even before the withdrawal, Canada’s troop contribution ranked only 65th in UN peacekeeping missions, with fewer than 30 personnel deployed − the smallest number it has ever contributed.   After the latest planned cuts, it will rank about 100th, according to Walter Dorn, a peacekeeping expert and defence studies profess...
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Peace Train on the Scoop on Port Alberni

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           Keith and Bernadette Wyton were featured on the Scoop on Port Alberni, a community-focused media platform whose mission is to provide local news and information to the residents of the Alberni Valley. Check it out!
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Peace Train Canada, Cassandras and military spending: A cautionary tale for the Canadian government

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In this time of rapid change and the rising spiral of state violence, Canadians have a chance to speak up for peace—or be overwhelmed by the arguments for expanding militarism.   One way to do that is through Peace Train Canada, which is once again going to Ottawa in October to promote the cause of peacemaking.   Its message is simple, said Keith Wyton, who is organizing the Train together with his wife, Bernadette: “We must do everything we can as a nation to avoid war and to work for peace,” he said.   Wyton noted that some might see this small effort like being a Cassandra, the priestess of Apollo in Greek myth who was condemned to tell the truth about the future but not be believed.   Today, he noted, people who are called “Cassandras” are sometimes viewed as doomsayers. But Cassandra’s curse was not that she was wrong—but that she was not believed, he said.   “Cassandra’s tale is a cautionary one for the Canadian government as it increases milita...
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2026 Peace Train update and registration information

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The 2026 Peace Train is filling up! Thirty people have signed up so far, some taking the train and some flying to Ottawa. There’s still room for more, says organizer Bernie Wyton.   “We hope for more to make this trip a much bigger event,” she said of this year’s trip, which departs from Vancouver on Oct. 23.   The goal of Peace Train is to get peace back on track, Wyton said.   “We are calling on our government to commit to a culture of peace by establishing and funding an integrated, independent Canadian Centre for Peace and Justice. This is not a protest, but an effort to lift up all those who will rise to the current global challenges of resisting polarization, rampant self-interest, and an industrial war machine that is out of control.”   The train will arrive in Toronto on Oct. 27; participants will take a train to Ottawa on Oct. 28. There will be a reception with Members of Parliament that evening, arranged by Elizabeth May. More info about the trip be...
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2026 Peace Train video posted

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Want to know more about the Peace Train and meet some of the people behind it? Check out this video   on YouTube!
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Canada’s peacekeeping myth

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  One of the publications I write for is Canadian Affairs, an online news source that wants to cover topics that don’t get much attention. That includes about peace and peacekeeping. Earlier, I wrote there about the lack of attention to and questions about Canada’s increased defence spending. And now one of my colleagues has written about Canada’s peacekeeping myth, including comments from Peace Train supporter Walter Dorn. The article is below, but I encourage you to check out Canadian Affairs. Canada’s peacekeeping myth   Canada rightly once saw itself as a peacekeeping nation. But with just 27 peacekeepers on missions now, experts say much will need to change to restore that legacy   by Sam Forster   April 2, 2026   For much of the Cold War, Canada was widely seen as one of the world’s leading peacekeeping nations.   As thousands of Canadian soldiers served in United Nations missions around the world, peacekeeping became a cornerstone of...
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