[Canada]: Message to the United Kingdom

[Owen]

"Dear Secretary of State for Defence,

Canada is looking to establish further relations with the United Kingdom and ISAF more broadly in terms of defence. We are looking at hopefully seeing the re-establishment of Multinational Low Level Flying Training and a permanent Allied presence at CFB Goose Bay in Labrador. Currently, there is only a Search and Rescue Squadron at the base so it is being fairly under-utilised, though it has always been a prime location for low-level training, unique topography and very sparse population of less than 30,000 in the whole of Labrador makes it ideal, along with being relatively close to Europe, certainly one of the most closest points of North America to Europe. I wish to meet with you at a time which is convenient.

Sincerely,
Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom,
Janice Charette."

 

[Owen]

@Jamie

 

[Jamie]

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Ministry of Defence​

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To:	Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette
Cc:
Subject	RE: Relations
Security Level:	Private / Encrypted

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Dear Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette,

Thank you for contacting the Ministry of Defence.

We welcome all invitations to forwarding cooperation between the United Kingdom and other countries internationally, your desire to further relations with not just the UK, but ISAF, is something we would of course love to approach. Your proposal for a multinational Low Level Training Area is something we're interested in, but I admit, something I'm cautious off. We've had over four different training agreements with past Canadian Governments which fell through quickly after governments changed. What reassurances do you have for a Low Level Training Area and ensuring it will provide stable, long-term usage?

Kind Regards,
JTowse
Jack Towse
Ministry of Defence

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?mod@gov.co.uk​

☎️0844 453 0226​

✉️MOD HQ, Wethersfield, Braintree, Essex CM7 4AZ, London, SW1​

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@Owen

 

[Owen]

"Dear Mr. Towse,

If you could direct my attention to these agreements, I'm sure I can get the Minister to evaluate them and see if we can continue to honour the agreements made by past Governments. We are generally swayed to honouring all international agreements made by previous Governments but we are a Liberal-led Government now, whereas most of those agreements were made by Conservative-led governments so we need to make sure they're in line with our intended commitments and in the interest of Canadians. Currently our Government has been elected for 4 years, so we can at least guarantee a training agreement until the next election to be held in 2017.

Sincerely,
Canadian High Commissioner to the UK,
Janice Charette."

 

[Jamie]

"

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Ministry of Defence​

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To:	Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette
Cc:
Subject	RE: Relations
Security Level:	Private / Encrypted

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Dear Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette,

Thank you for your interest in evaluating the previous agreements, they all surrounded a British Army Training Area in Suffield. We have been evaluating our own mandate for Global Training and the agreements are something we will hold off from re-approaching due to a new British Army base in America in discussion. However, in that case, we would like to discuss the possibility of a Low Level Training Area in Canada. How best would you like to move forward with this discussion? Possibly a video conference or whether you would like to visit the UK (or vice versa?)

Kind Regards,
JTowse
Jack Towse
Ministry of Defence

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?mod@gov.co.uk​

☎️0844 453 0226​

✉️MOD HQ, Wethersfield, Braintree, Essex CM7 4AZ, London, SW1​

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[Owen]

"Dear Mr. Towse,

Well I am already in the UK, being the High Commissioner and all. I'm typing this from Canada House right now which is in Trafalgar Square. I would like to meet in person to discuss these issues.

Sincerely,
Janice Charette,
Canadian High Commissioner to the UK."

 

[Jamie]

Resisting the urge to facepalm at his mistake, an invitation was extended to Janice Charette to come to the Ministry of Defence to meet in person.
Jack Towse had assigned Lee Beachill to meet in person due to other engagements with the Secretary himself.

@Owen

 

[Owen]

The High Commissioner would depart the High Commission to go to the Ministry of Defence, the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had just landed in Canada and is currently at Canada House, but due to the low-level of representation it was decided he was not to come with otherwise it might've been a bit insulting. She would get into a High Commission car and get driven to the Ministry of Defence. She would approach reception.

"I'm here to meet with Mr. Lee Beachill, I'm Janice Charette from the Canadian High Commission."

 

[Jamie]

A Receptionist to the building was the first to welcome Janice, before leading her into a long hallway, eventually into an office marked 'L. Beachill', entering and offering her a seat. "He will be here shortly, is there anythi--" she got cut out as Lee entered, who then spoke. "Ah, Good Afternoon. Thank you for coming, I'm Lee Beachill. Would you like a drink?" hee asked Janice, nodding to the receptionist who then exited and shut the door behind her. Ensuring the meeting was private so they could talk in secret if needed.

@Owen

 

[Owen]

She would shake his hand. "Lovely to meet you Mr. Beachill."

She would take a seat.

"Just a glass of water will do."

"Now just letting you know, but the Prime Minister is currently at Canada House. If possible he would like to have meetings with high-ranking cabinet counterparts, ideally your Prime Minister as would be customary. I can't really speak on much as it would be above my pay grade, but we can discuss the Goose Bay and Suffield matter."

 

[Jamie]

Lee returned the handshake before pouring the pair a glass of water each. Placing one in front of Janice and one infront of himself whilst he took his seat. "Unfortunately the Prime Minister is currently out of country. He's in Norway ... or Sweden, meeting representatives from both countries. Most the Cabinet is elsewhere, but the Deputy Prime Minister will likely be next available shortly.

Suffield is a training ground our Armoured Units had long desired because of the benefits it has. Although, it had become expensive to move forces back and fourth which we coped with, but when we repeat the same agreements and they always end prematurely.. as you can imagine, it grew frustrating. Nonetheless, our venture for Suffield has somewhat diminished as we're hoping to keep armoured units local. But Low Level is something we hope to continue to engage in."


@Owen

 

[Owen]

"Well Goose Bay is currently the most under-utilised Canadian air base. We only have a mere combat support squadron there keeping the base maintained in order to quickly active it as its the only air base in the Labrador region. Historically though it hasn't be thoroughly used to station RCAF squadrons there, its always historically been the Low Level flying training for NATO. As ISAF is essentially NATO's successor, we would like to re-offer the air base to the Royal Air Force, Royal Netherlands Air Force and the United States Air Force to use again. Canada is also eager to work towards further cooperation with ISAF in the hopes of becoming a member one day. We're discussing with the United States closely to re-establish our old defence ties, particularly NORAD and seeing how we can strengthen North America."

 

[Owen]

@Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"It would be a positive step forward to explore further cooperation between the UK and Canada, and by extension, ISAF.
Moving forward, I would like to send a small flight of aircraft to Goose Bay to do a test flight to assess it's viability in terms of British Assets. We will then be able to review it and send our review to ISAF itself to discuss it been used ISAF-wide."

@Owen

 

[Owen]

"That would be greatly accepted, your small flight will be allowed to come at will, just let the base commander, Lieutenant Colonel Luc Sabourin, know beforehand and all personnel will be given visa-exemption without eTA as they come under the category of military personnel on official orders. I would also like to discuss having a Royal Visit to Canada sometime soon. It's been a while since the Queen last visited Canada and it should happen one more time before she gets too old."