Stephen Harper celebrating 20th anniversary of his Conservative government this week

Canada doesn’t talk about the Avro Arrow because it’s nostalgic. It talks about the Arrow because it’s unfinished business. Every time Ottawa finds itself boxed in on defence procurement, every time the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tries to remind Canada who it thinks really owns North American air power, the Arrow reappears. It doesn’t show up as an engineering debate or a budget line. It shows up as a question of sovereignty. Who decides what flies over Canada, who maintains it, who upgrades it, and who gets the final say when politics intrudes on defence? Right now...