Latest federal budget has few military bucks
By SCOTT TAYLOR On Target
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LAST MONDAY, the Conservative government tabled its second federal budget. With the Liberal party virtually adrift and rudderless under the new captaincy of Stephane Dion, Prime Minister Stephen Harper knows the time is ripe for a quick election, which could result in a Tory majority.
Consequentally, this latest budget contained a substantial number of vote-buying spending initiatives spread across a wide range of the special interest group spectrum.
Of particular substance was the millions of dollars transferred to Quebec in hopes of propelling Premier Jean Charest’s provincial Liberal party to another victory over the separatists.
In the past, such pandering to Quebec would have — and did — alienate the Conservative party’s western Canadian core membership. However, with Alberta awash in oil profits and no other right-of-centre option on the horizon, Harper and his strategists can expect to keep their voter base regardless of any disillusionment caused by the budget.
Despite the fact the Canadian soldier was named newsmaker of the year in 2006 as a result of the high-profile mission to Afghanistan, the latest budget contained virtually no new defence initiatives. The reason for this is that the Conservatives already allocated sizable increases to the military funding with their Canada First, five-year graduated plan, announced in last year’s budget.
As part of that massive reinvestment program, five major procurement projects were announced last summer for new supply ships, transport trucks, strategic airlift, transport planes and heavy-lift helicopters, totalling some $17 billion in military purchases. After such major announcements, the few lines dedicated to the defence portion of this year’s budget seem hardly worth noting.
The largest dollar figure entry announced was the accelerated implementation of their Canada First budget increases to the tune of $175 million. In layman’s terms, this means the Defence Department will use up that extra money this year to cover the cost of ongoing operations rather than spend it in the fiscal year of 2009-10.
Confused yet? In the original estimates tabled last year, Defence Department was scheduled to receive a $700-million boost to their bottom line for the 2007-08 fiscal year. The $175-million advance from next year’s planned increase is in addition to that $700 million.
In addition to this spending, the government did announce a couple of other relatively minor new programs in its budget.
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