It's a combination of several factors. First of all, it's the environment at the time the decision was made to eliminate the limited air defence capabilities of the Canadian Army. This was still prior to the return of great power competition and rivalry that we've seen. There was no air threat to the Canadian Forces in the context of Afghanistan. In Iraq, we were dealing with insurgents. That easily goes by the wayside. There's no problem right now. We don't need it, so why bother? We can rely on allies on a limited basis, because we fight in a coalition. In the context of competition for projects among the forces and within the army, air defence rapidly dropped to the bottom.
With the changing environment now, back to the Russian-Ukrainian war.... Of course, this predates this, because this came out in 2018 and was mentioned in 2017. Now, there's a recognition that the Canadian Forces overseas need air defence. There's still the allied component. The issue of what air defence they need is an open question right now.