Dominion geography explains competing alliance priorities

Australia and New Zealand viewed Japan as both a major potential threat and an important source of security. Canada faced a different problem because it shared a long land border with the United States. Ocean distance and the Royal Navy could protect the Australasian dominions while Canada waited for British troops. The Canadian argument imagines those reinforcements arriving at Halifax after American forces had already advanced. The period's military preparations included Canadian and American officers scouting across the border in plain clothes to update plans and identify staging areas.