The Senate committee on national security and defence has released its first "guidebook" on the state of Canada's military preparedness, and it's not looking good.

Measuring the extent to which Paul Martin's government has attempted to update Canada's defence capabilities, the committee said in a statement "it is fair to say that the new government has yet to demonstrate that is prepared to match resources with its stated objectives."

Noting that the federal government's "raison d'ętre" is to guarantee its citizens security, the report suggests Canadians have, until now, been served as much by luck as by preparedness.

"When it comes to national security and defence -- issues that are not part of the everyday lives of most Canadians -- the vast majority of citizens trust in luck,'' it said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, luck is notoriously untrustworthy.''

Among the outstanding defence and national security issues the committee says Ottawa still has to address are:

• the lack of screening of mail and cargo at ports and airports, as well as lax background checks on related personnel,
• the "soft underbelly of Canadian coastal defence" presented by the poorly guarded Great Lakes,
• too few intelligence agencies with too little staff to properly gather, assess and thwart modern enemies,
• a "toothless" and "underutilized" Coast Guard that provides little in the way of actual coastal protection,
• and inadequate defence budgets.

Senator Colin Kenny, the committee's chairman, says if the government is wondering how to pay for all their recommendations, they should look at the $61-billion used to reduce the national debt over the last seven years.

"We'd suggest retiring the debt a little more slowly and provide for security a little more and for defence a little more," Kenny told a news conference.

During a visit to Canadian Forces Base Valcartier near Quebec City last month, Martin conceded military coffers are far from bulging.

"We have to turn around our dwindling investment which, I admit, I have a certain responsibility for causing,'' he said. "Your superiors here are just too polite to say it.''

Martin served as finance minister during the 1990s, at a time when military budget cuts resulted in significant troop cuts.

The 315-page report does credit the prime minister with introducing "some significant reforms."

Chief among them are moves to consolidate the security file under the deputy prime minister, as well as the release of a national security policy.

Transport Minister Jean Lapierre said the government is studying the report, point-by-point. "It's a very useful report,'' said Lapierre.

But he adds that many of the report's recommendations are already in development. "Various departments have been inspired by this report.''

But "inspiring" the government is not what the committee had in mind. Kenny says he wants a clear plan of what the government will do.

"We'd like a definitive statement,'' he told reporters. "Logically, you would have a defence policy functioning hand-in-glove with a foreign policy and an aid policy.

"I've waited through four defence ministers for that to come.''