The reluctance to buy escorts rested partly on assumptions about where a future war might occur. Japan appeared remote across the Pacific, while Italy seemed like a Mediterranean problem for the Royal Navy. Canadian participation could therefore be imagined mainly as sending troops rather than securing maritime trade and convoy routes. Geographic distance and dependence on an ally made underinvestment feel reasonable until a crisis exposed the missing capability.
Notable Point · 26:16-26:53
Strategic distance became an excuse not to prepare
Canadian planners could imagine future wars against distant Japan or Italy as conflicts in which Canada would merely supply troops, making naval investment seem safely avoidable.