Author: Charles S. Oliviero, RMC 1976
Editor: Phil J Halton CMR RMC 1997
Published by Double Dagger Books, 22 April 2026, 231 Pages, ISBN 1998501833
Available on Amazon Books in Kindle ($9.99) or commercial format paperback ($24.99).
All profits will be donated to RUSI New Brunswick and RUSI Vancouver Island.
A must read for any and all Canadians who are concerned about Canada’s place in the world, this book is the latest thought-provoking instalment from Colonel (Ret’d) Chuck Oliviero and LCol (Ret’d) Phil Halton. Initiated by a 1904 speech by Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier where he announced that “the twentieth century shall be the century of Canada” and reinforced by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Davos speech that made the world sit up and notice, Oliviero and Halton conceived, edited, and published this anthology of short essays, which can be read separately or as a cohesive storyline. Each chapter is no more than 2,500 words, making it a book that can comfortably be read in short spurts.
The collection of twenty essays is broken into two sections. Part 1 contains ten essays about the Canadian military, and they cover all aspects from seapower to NORAD; from creating a defence intellectual base to a CAF General Staff, from the future of the Reserves to Canada’s need for hard power in a time of rupture. Most of the authors are ex-cadets who have held key positions both in uniform and afterwards. Part 2 shifts gears and moves to the socio-political domain and the ten essays are written by nationally recognized experts including RMC profs and a couple of ex-principals. These essays tackle Canadian national identity, our need for an effective foreign intelligence capability, to Canada’s universities to our policies on the Arctic.
The collection of essays is provocative without being scolding, instructive without attempting to place blame. The essays are written for a general audience but with enough detail for those more steeped in the subject matter whether it’s defence of the Arctic or the need for better national intelligence services; whether you served in the Canadian Armed Forces or not. Colonels Oliviero and Halton set out to initiate a national debate, and by creating this wide-ranging series of well-written essays on a broad spectrum of national policy issues, this is the book they hope will prime the pump of such a debate. Certainly, the initial feedback received by the authors has been positive and strongly indicative that the aim has been met.
It has long been an uncomfortable truth that we Canadians have relied for too long on comforting and often ill-conceive assumptions about our national defence. We have for too long held the blind belief that we could ignore our own defence requirements because we were so closely allied to the United States. The current American administration has shaken us from our sleepwalking and the authors in this anthology offer multiple ideas on how to shape our own future by arguing that Canada cannot lead abroad unless it rebuilds strength, seriousness, and confidence at home. PM Carney has bluntly stated that his government is willing to tackle this issue head-on and the authors offer their deeply considered opinions on how the Carney Government should proceed. This collection of short essays by subject matter experts is about sovereignty, but it is also about much more. It is about competence, national renewal, and whether Canada is prepared to match its values with the means to defend and sustain those values. If we are to be a serious country, then we need to make serious choices and the authors in this book offer some serious suggestions.
In summary, Fulfilling the Promise of Canada, is a highly readable, and enjoyable collection of thoughts and arguments by a distinguished group of military, intelligence, academic, and policy thinkers who examine the hard realities of an increasingly unstable world and collectively ask what Canada must do to meet those realities head on. Covering defence policy, air power, naval strategy, reserves, special operations, foreign intelligence, Arctic security, digital vulnerability, higher education, China, Taiwan, and the future of Canada-US relations, this volume offers a fascinatingly wide-ranging assessment of the country’s strategic position and the choices we Canadian have before us.
This is not a policy textbook for policy “wonks”. It is not filled with unattainable theoretical jargon understandable only by those who live in the ivory towers of academe or the smoke filled back rooms of political schemers looking for quick wins with facile arguments to solve complex problems.
Fulfilling the Promise of Canada is a no nonsense plain-spoken series of arguments made in language that the average reader can not only understand but also appreciate. It belongs on the desk of every thinking Canadian — particularly if you are an ex-cadet — and it is a credit to Canada’s military colleges and their graduates.
