A former Liberal MP and Canadian fighter jet pilot is watching with interest, as most of us are, the drama unfolding in the skies over North America.
Over the past week, four objects have been shot out of the sky, including a Chinese balloon taken down over the Atlantic Ocean and unidentified objects shot down over the Yukon and Lake Huron.
Stephen Fuhr carries a unique perspective.
Fuhr was a fighter pilot and staff officer at Canadian NORAD headquarters before he was elected MP for Kelowna-Lake Country in 2015.
"I was in the room with the big screens advising the battle commander on the courses of actions and recommendations of what to do," Fuhr told Castanet News, as he described part of the process behind the decision to shoot down unidentified objects above North American airspace.
"I have seen these types of things from many different vantage points and the reality is, despite the Jordan Peterson's and Rex Murphy's of the world, is NORAD is working exactly the way it was designed."
The objects, which have still yet to be identified publicly, were all taken down as part of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), the Canadian and U.S. governments.
"It's a 50/50 partnership between Canada and the U.S. Regardless of our smaller stature, it's still a 50/50 venture. We share dedicated NORAD assets.
"We share an integrated command and control centre that is already in place. We have Canadian staff integrated in the U.S. as they have in Canada. We work hand in glove with them."
When the object over the Yukon was taken down, it was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who gave the order, but it was an American fighter jet that took the shot.
While that series of events is the butt of some jokes, Fuhr says it played out the way it should have.
It's all a shared resource, he says, which is why an American fighter jet that was likely closer at the time, took the shot to bring the object down.
As to what the three unidentified objects shot down over Alaska, the Yukon and Lake Huron were, Fuhr says there are a number of theories. One he believes is reasonable surrounds a Russian response to assistance Canada and the U.S. is providing to the Ukrainian war effort.
"If you think how little effort it would take for Russia to put objects up into the atmosphere and have the jet stream carry them over here...have all the time, effort and money for Canada, the U.S. and NORAD to identify and deal with these objects.
"Think of the cost to confusion ratio it would take and the harassment factor."
It's plausible, he says.
Fuhr believes the increase in sightings of objects is due to radar systems at NORAD being more tuned to look for these slower moving objects than in the past.
"Now that we are looking for lower, slower moving things guess what, we're finding them."
Just what they are and where they came from will be determined once the debris is located and inspected.
