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Government hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

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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....
 
I will put money on it. $50 to Army.ca

I bet that compliant Blair will now announce that Bombardier offer to replace the CP140 Aurora is open.
 
I will put money on it. $50 to Army.ca

I bet that compliant Blair will now announce that Bombardier offer to replace the CP140 Aurora is open.

I'm betting on a 'social credit' program being introduced to the CAF to deal with all the culture shift laggards.

Luckily, there's already a SME on the subject we can borrow from ;)


 
Bill Blair is a loyal soldier who will do whatever he is told to do then say "I was following orders".
Old school, blue pinstriped politician ,owes his loyalty to the talking head of the day! Next origional thought will be his first!
I agree - he should have stayed in Toronto and retired.
 
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I'm betting on a 'social credit' program being introduced to the CAF to deal with all the culture shift laggards.

Luckily, there's already a SME on the subject we can borrow from ;)


To be implemented by the same people that brought you the Phoenix pay system!
 
It can "Value Proposition" all they want, but Bombardier would still need to prove that they have something beyond a CGI drawing.
Prove to whom? It's Bombardier located where votes are. The CF/Allies requirements be dammed.
 
EH 101 anyone?
That's a bit different though. The Chretien govt didn't pick another thing, it just cancelled it.

It'd be a different issue if the analysis proposed the EH101, and the GoC said "thanks but we're going with this thing designed in Flin Flon, which is on the back of a napkin right now but I promise will be better".
 
That's a bit different though. The Chretien govt didn't pick another thing, it just cancelled it.

It'd be a different issue if the analysis proposed the EH101, and the GoC said "thanks but we're going with this thing designed in Flin Flon, which is on the back of a napkin right now but I promise will be better".
Damn, so the Trudeau gov has the option of cancelling MMA and just carrying on with CP140! That is a COA if IRC.
 
Damn, so the Trudeau gov has the option of cancelling MMA and just carrying on with CP140! That is a COA if IRC.
Sure, I guess - not replacing something is always a COA for any procurement project.

But if that happens, the CPC etc would have a windfall in political ammo, even more so than the Sea King replacement fiasco.
 
Prove to whom? It's Bombardier located where votes are. The CF/Allies requirements be dammed.

If it actually worked that way without other factors, there might be something to that. Read the tea leaves in Quebec and there are no promises that a Bombardier deal would translate directly to more Liberal votes. As well, so the calculus with America’s economic Sword of Damocles hanging over Canada’s financial head, we’re along for the ride…the second Uncle Sam wants to flex for real, watch dairy supply management come under fire again…you want to see grass roots Quebec votes for the Canadian Government of the day dry up, watch their dairy industry get screwed by an American sandpaper-covered condom…

EH 101 anyone?

At least Chretien stuck with his election promise…and Uncle Sam really didn’t care because it wasn’t a US company losing the contract. Trudeau folded on his ‘Cancel the F-35’ promise like a cheap card table…on America’s orders.

That's a bit different though. The Chretien govt didn't pick another thing, it just cancelled it.

It'd be a different issue if the analysis proposed the EH101, and the GoC said "thanks but we're going with this thing designed in Flin Flon, which is on the back of a napkin right now but I promise will be better"
🧠

Yup.

Damn, so the Trudeau gov has the option of cancelling MMA and just carrying on with CP140! That is a COA if IRC.
The nuclear foot-shooting option is always there…

It’s cute when people think that Canada is the master of its own destiny at the moment…
 
Depending on the missiles yes.
Here's the Aussie slate from the article.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday that the US would be “racing” to give Australia access to advanced munitions. In the AUSMIN joint communique issued after the speeches, the two countries said they would produce Lockheed Martin’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System munition. On top of that, they “reaffirmed their commitment to address global supply chain constraints and to transfer technical data for the M795 155mm artillery shell in support of future production in Australia.” And the foreign and defense ministers said Australia and the US would speed to maintain, “repair, overhaul, and upgrade” MK-48 heavyweight torpedoes and SM-2 missiles in Australia.

“This can’t happen soon enough,” tweeted Ashley Townshend, senior fellow for Indo-Pacific security at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who called the deal “excellent news.” Townshend added that he would like to eventually see agreements for Australia that sees the Lucky Country “be part of manufacturing and stockpiling missile systems like LRASM, JASSEM-ER, SM6, HIMARS, and Tomahawks,” although those systems were not mentioned in the communique.
 
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