But while Afghanistan certainly contributes to the problem of rebuilding Canada's military, it is by no means the crux of the problem. The crux is lack of political will. This lack of will is based on what various national parties think they can get away with during elections.

One minority party -- the NDP -- is naive, bordering on pacifist. The other -- the Bloc Quebecois -- would undoubtedly be willing to spend plenty on creating viable armed forces for Quebec, but not for Canada.

The Liberals are not pacifists. But Jean Chretien and Paul Martin spent a decade fighting debt on the back of the Canadian Forces, and Stephane Dion has shown no sign that he considers military reconstruction a national priority.

The Conservatives have been clever, which certainly isn't the same as being honest or honourable.

By default, they have already won the votes of most people who pay attention to military issues -- people who believe that sovereign states need a reasonable military capacity to protect citizens against foreign and domestic threats.

These people may well understand that there isn't much of a chance that this government intends to spend the money required to bring Canada's military capacity up to respectable, Dutch-like standards. But what other party are they going to vote for? At least the Conservatives make the occasional gesture.

But the Conservatives have no intention of alienating that vast array of Canadian voters who believe that our nation should be peaceful, and friendly, and very unlike those war-mongering Americans. So the government refuses to commit to more than token increases in military expenditures -- it will honour its election commitment to spending approximately $1 billion a year over and above what its Liberal predecessors were spending.

If Michael Ignatieff were any other Canadian intellectual who very publicly changed his mind on America's war in Iraq, now saying he thinks it was wrong for the U.S. to invade, there likely wouldn't be near the firestorm of debate over his mea culpa.

Since he has switched ideological horses midstream, Canadians need to know whether he has changed his mind on Canada's two most-pressing foreign policy issues: Canada's mission in Afghanistan and the Responsibility to Protect.

It is important to know that because the former Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard professor and widely published author is now the deputy leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

In the end, Ignatieff has ignored his own past personal empathy for the Kurds in Iraq, so why should he worry about Afghans?

Are the Afghans next on his switch list, despite Canada's moral promise?