Government hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

I have long said that you could fund the CAF to 4 percent of GDP, but we would still lag behind in NATO and be much the same where we are.

It's never the money, it's politics. It's procedures. It's the pork-barreling in our defence spending that makes us a paper tiger in NATO.

My only hope in all of this for the CAF and the GoC, whatever the political stripe that may be, is that it will rouse them out of the "Peace Dividend" slumber. The world has been unstable since 1945. We have used geography, proximity, and association as a Defence Policy ever since. ICBMs don't care how close to the U.S. or how far from Russia/China we are.

Don't give us a dime more, but let us spend money on defence like it matters. The fact we follow the same rules for purchasing a fighter aircraft as we do for buying office furniture for a Service Canada office is disgraceful. Don't treat defense procurement as a stimulus package for Canadian Industry. There I said it.

We spend so much money, time, and effort trying to get that money to stay in Canada; be it by awarding contracts to companies with no capability to produce items without first "retooling" and"developing the production lines", or by hamstringing perfectly competent and competitive bidders by forcing the project to be made in St. Margaret de Poutain de Champignon, QC because the ruling government either lost the seat in the election, or won it with promises.

We spend so much money and staff hours jumping through TBS regulations that are great for other departments, but are terrible for defence procurement. Some items you have to sole source, because there are technologies and capabilities no one else makes. By doing the bid process, you get companies clamoring for a project they can't deliver on, but because they tick the bright boxes on the score sheet....

I truly and honestly belief we need to split from PSPC and legislate that its not beholden to TBS, only to the PBO/PCO. The guiding principles of this new Defence Procurement department should be "Off the shelf, from somewhere else" if there isn't an industry in Canada.

BOOTFORGEN has demonstrated how well we do when we are able to actually get what we need, instead of lining the pockets of a Canadian company that got lucky.

That, but with tanks, fighters, ships, weapons systems....

 

[SeaKingTacco]

I deal with security clearances a fair bit more than I like.

Country of birth absolutely does play into this. I see it all the time. It becomes less and less relevant as more clearance cycles happen (and they are Canadian citizens for longer).

Dual citizenship is an extra flag as is the age at which they emigrated to Canada. It all adds up.

Having enough trained staff to do the clearances is exactly the problem. And it will get worse, not better as increasing technology forces us to have more of our Force at a much higher clearance level.

 

[Rifleman62]

.

 

[MilEME09]

Called it

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-nato-spending-definition-1.6901473

 

[markppcli]

And the housing initiative is also a recruiting tool:

Note the QR code on the billboard which takes you right to the careers page .... an idea for the CAF perhaps

Best we can do is one bathroom down the hall in. 50 yr old building. Meal plans start at 400, please complete this memo if you don’t like it.

 

[daftandbarmy]

And the housing initiative is also a recruiting tool:

Note the QR code on the billboard which takes you right to the careers page .... an idea for the CAF perhaps

Because, if you're good at business, you can make a fortune on real estate and 'the Company Store'

 

[Brad Sallows]

Entirely different incentives between profit-seeking companies and government agencies. You'd have to somehow restructure DND's finances to at least be able to show how money spent in one place is saving costs in another. For example, expanded training capacity costing "X" equal to the same amount in compensated days trainees are not spending idly awaiting training.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

What single PMQs?

They used to be single family PMQ's back in my day, have they all been replaced? One of the problems was that you could not use the basements as bedrooms.

 

[markppcli]

They used to be single family PMQ's back in my day, have they all been replaced? One of the problems was that you could not use the basements as bedrooms.

I think he was talking about the scarcity of PMQs in general. I’m in a single and base Shilo just built another dozen or so duplexes… with fences but that’s a separate issue lol.

 

[Quirky]

Having enough trained staff to do the clearances is exactly the problem. And it will get worse, not better as increasing technology forces us to have more of our Force at a much higher clearance level.

Which department handles security clearances, is it strictly from offices in Ottawa?

 

[rmc_wannabe]

They used to be single family PMQ's back in my day, have they all been replaced? One of the problems was that you could not use the basements as bedrooms.

They replaced the single PMQs in Kingston with..... well..... open fields.

 

[Halifax Tar]

What I’d like to know is how these short term RCN enrolees are going to be rushed through the security clearance backlog. As noted in post #3916, “All trades onboard ship need higher than reliable.” And as we have a backlog in the clearance system, won’t large numbers of short-term hires just exacerbate the problem?

So within the establishment of the NEP are a some billets for Commissionaires whose sole job is to process those security clearances.

Will it speed it up ? We will see very soon.

 

[dimsum]

It’s not. At all. I wasn’t hired to fix recruiting and anything posted here or on Reddit is irrelevant. I don’t ask the clerk to help me troubleshoot a problem and they don’t ask my help with processing claims. I don’t care if the CAF takes a year + to process an applicant, we have thousands of overpaid post secondary officers to come up with ideas. My application took over a year to process and this was in the early 2000s, 20 years later and nothing has changed. It’s a disgrace.

None of those “overpaid post secondary officers” were hired to fix those problems either. They were hired as Armoured officers, Pilots, or whatever happens to be their MOSID.

Guess how much training they get for stuff like “how to fix recruiting” or any of the weird situations that come up in the CAF.

So maybe the solution is to get specialists in that sort of thing, but then it’d be more overpaid post-secondary officers.

 

[Spencer100]

Yet the USMC hit its 2022 recruiting targets, and its well on track to hit its 2023 recruiting and retention targets.

Would be interesting for the other US services and western military’s to look at why that is.

I think everyone know why this is. But we can't talk about it anymore. Modern world and politics.

I would put to you there is still a small minority of males (and some females too) that are interested and attracted to a lets call it an active "mission" mindset and career. The Marines still actively promote that.

6 of the best Marine recruiting commercials ranked

 

[QV]

We also build accommodations for our workers and their families so that they are able to work for us in strategically important locations:

PHOTOS: CP opens the doors to their new staff accommodations in Revelstoke

The facility has 48 rooms spread between two buildings

www.revelstokereview.com

Six months flash to bang for the company to build 48 apartment suites for their workers in a high cost location. That's what you're competing with btw:

"when we see something that needs to get done, we get at it with the tenacity to get the job done....quickly, safely, efficiently"

This demonstrates things can be done and quickly (and by a company driven by profits too). It's not that the CAF can't, the CAF just won't.

 

[KevinB]

I think everyone know why this is. But we can't talk about it anymore. Modern world and politics.

I would put to you there is still a small minority of males (and some females too) that are interested and attracted to a lets call it an active "mission" mindset and career. The Marines still actively promote that.

6 of the best Marine recruiting commercials ranked

Imagine joining a Military to do Military things…. Madness

 

[KevinB]

This demonstrates things can be done and quickly (and by a company driven by profits too). It's not that the CAF can't, the CAF just won't.

I suspect the Treasury Board has a lot to do with that too, the CAF isn’t able to do a lot of things in a vacuum.

 

[Spencer100]

Imagine joining a Military to do Military things…. Madness

King for Day

In a country of 40 million it should be no problem to get less than 100,000 for the CAF.
First stop the crazy.......its the military...be the military
Recruiter to every high school in the country...when the school boards and schools say no....well then you don't need this funding right? There that fixed.
Do not take stats or hold goals on DEI. A person is a person.

Non Canadian born get them in first (As long as they are legally here) then work it out. Worse thing you end up with a Foreign Legion...but I bet not.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I suspect the Treasury Board has a lot to do with that too, the CAF isn’t able to do a lot of things in a vacuum.

In any time the CAF is involved in armed conflict, they should be able to drag TB workers (including senior staff) into the conflict zone. Then TB suddenly might take an interest in making sure the CAF is better equipped.

 

[rmc_wannabe]

In any time the CAF is involved in armed conflict, they should be able to drag TB workers (including senior staff) into the conflict zone. Then TB suddenly might take an interest in making sure the CAF is better equipped.

Fuck that. Waste of TD money.

Amend the FAA and give full spending authority for our budget over to the MND for the duration of the conflict, with guarantees of an audit within 12 months of the cessation of mission.

 

[KevinB]

Fuck that. Waste of TD money.

Amend the FAA and give full spending authority for our budget over to the MND for the duration of the conflict, with guarantees of an audit within 12 months of the cessation of mission.

I dont know about a waste of money -- I'd get a kick of some TB Personnel wearing the archaic armor and driving a TAPV...
Might be able to recoup the TD money from YouTube monetized videos of them being extremely uncomfortable