# Decade of low light conditions



## mad dog 2020 (22 Mar 2011)

Sorry to be the bearer of sad news 
Military faces $500m in cuts 

OTTAWA - The Defence Department may not be heading back into the old decade of budget darkness, but it could be in for a time of twilight.

The military will make it home from the war in Afghanistan just in time to take a lead role in the battle against the federal deficit.

Figures released in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget on Tuesday show he's relying on the Defence Department to rein in spending sharply.

He expects Defence to account for up to 26 per cent of the federal government's anticipated $2 billion in spending cuts next year.

That figure jumps to 35 per cent in both 2013 and 2014 — or $1 billion a year.

"The Defence Department is accounted to make up for a lot of the savings. In some years it's about a third of the overall savings," said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at Bank of Montreal.

The former Liberal government's deficit fight hit the military to the point that a top general dubbed the period "the decade of darkness."

"It's probably not quite as intense as what we went through in the 1990s, but it's not that different," Porter said. "It will certainly be a pretty serious degree of restraint on the defence sector."

The Conservatives, who've made hay out of supporting the military and still plan to spend billions on stealth fighters, often lamented the Liberal cuts to Defence.

The new restraint, beginning next year, coincides with the end of major combat in Kandahar.

Government supplementary estimates tabled earlier suggest that reduced overseas operations will save Defence as much as $300 million a year starting in 2012, although it's not clear how much of that is attributable to the changed Afghan mission.

The government announced in the 2010 budget that the military would contribute to the deficit fight, but the numbers have become more stark.

Porter said there's a certain volatility in the defence projections because, as the Libyan crisis has demonstrated, no one can predict how and when the military will be deployed.

The Harper government's anticipated savings flow out of a strategic review the government started last year.

Federal officials say another round of restraint is in the works and every department is being asked to prepare budget cuts of either five or ten per cent.

The federal Treasury Board will make the final call.

Porter said the federal government is in for years of profound belt-tightening.

He noted the overall spending reduction targets are certainly "doable" but they mark a drastic slowdown compared with recent years.

"It will require year after year of rounds of discipline," he said.

Budget documents call the restraint measures at Defence "a key element" of the plan to wipe the anticipated $29.6 billion deficit for 2011-12 off the books.

Starting next year, there will be cuts to "redundant and outdated equipment" and to the procurement system, which is already short of program officers, will be streamlined.

The department has struggled with big-ticket purchases — such as new supply ships — partly because of a lack of planning staff.

The Canadian Press


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## THINKBIG (22 Mar 2011)

You can see all ready in Reserve unit they cut down on training days. I hope they not going to cut on the PLD.


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## PuckChaser (22 Mar 2011)

There's only 110 cost moves this APS for all Linemen and SigOps, cuts are already happening. I hope I'm not trapped in Kingston for the next 10 years....


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## Edward Campbell (22 Mar 2011)

See mt views here. We are not in anything like the trouble that plagues the UK but we must get our fiscal house in order and we would be mad to think that Canadians will accept cuts in _entitlements_ (social spending) and leave the defence budget untouched.


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## Spanky (22 Mar 2011)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> See mt views here. We are not in anything like the trouble that plagues the UK but we must get our fiscal house in order and we would be mad to think that Canadians will accept cuts in _entitlements_ (social spending) and leave the defence budget untouched.


Fair enough, I guess, as long as there *arecuts in social spending.*


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## ballz (22 Mar 2011)

I don't understand the magnitude of this so perhaps someone could shed some light for me, perhaps they could show just how close this brings us to "darkness" again, as I was still carrying my spiderman lunchbox to school at the time.

But 500 million in cuts... This link from Wiki http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rpp/2010-2011/inst/dnd/dnd01-eng.asp#sec1g_e says that the CF budget for 10/11 was 21.8 billion. 500 million only represent a 2.29% cut.

But the article says all departments will be expected to cut 5-10%. So we're getting off easy in that sense? Even when the 2013 and 2014 cuts come into place, that just brings us to the status quo?

So I don't want to say "what's all the fuss," but I guess I need to seek some clarification. I could lose 2.29% of my pay and it wouldn't mean diddly squat to me right now, and I'm not exacty living above the median by any means.


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## Strike (22 Mar 2011)

May I remind everyone that the CF is not to comment on the budget for the next 48 hours so that we can all get a chance to look at it thoroughly and form more educated opinions.  There's a lot of stuff there beyond what was said in the Commons.


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## ballz (22 Mar 2011)

Strike said:
			
		

> May I remind everyone that the CF is not to comment on the budget for the next 48 hours so that we can all get a chance to look at it thoroughly and form more educated opinions.  There's a lot of stuff there beyond what was said in the Commons.



Really, I didn't know that? Thanks for the heads up then ;D


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## Occam (22 Mar 2011)

ballz said:
			
		

> Really, I didn't know that? Thanks for the heads up then ;D



First I've heard about it too...and I've been paying attention to budget impacts on the CF since Mulroney got elected.


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## Good2Golf (22 Mar 2011)

It's usually a GoC SOP.  No formal comments from other than the Minister or his designate for 48 hours.

That said, up until leaving work today at 17:30, there was no CANFORGEN regarding explicit direction.  Strike, do you have a link to point folks to to provide additional info?

Cheers
G2G


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## MJP (22 Mar 2011)

Strike said:
			
		

> May I remind everyone that the CF is not to comment on the budget for the next 48 hours so that we can all get a chance to look at it thoroughly and form more educated opinions.  There's a lot of stuff there beyond what was said in the Commons.



The CF as an institution?  Or CF members in general can't comment as private citizens?  I am not following which is common fault of mine...

 In any case is there a reference for that?


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## Strike (22 Mar 2011)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> It's usually a GoC SOP.  No formal comments from other than the Minister or his designate for 48 hours.
> 
> That said, up until leaving work today at 17:30, there was no CANFORGEN regarding explicit direction.  Strike, do you have a link to point folks to to provide additional info?
> 
> ...



The PAG should have been sent out yesterday and should have filtered down by the end of today before COB.  Of course, I'm being optimistic.


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## PPCLI Guy (22 Mar 2011)

Strike said:
			
		

> The PAG should have been sent out yesterday and should have filtered down by the end of today before COB.  Of course, I'm being optimistic.



The PAG went out 3 days ago.

Comment by identified serving members in a public forum is not permitted.


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## Michael OLeary (22 Mar 2011)

And on that note, this topic is closed until the Minister has spoken.

Contact staff to add relevent news articles if any appear.

Milnet.ca Staff


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