Canada moves to 2% GDP end of FY25/26 - PMMC

[Colin Parkinson]

PM clearly hit a nerve with Trump at Davos - another unhinged screed launched our way.

Also Trump apparently cant remember which "land" he wants. Went off on Iceland today.

or the wars he ended......

 

[ytz]

I honestly would like to know what more Does Canada need to have to be a serious Military?

Modern warfare doesn't just have tanks, ships and airplanes. Sensors, software, autonomous systems, space systems, mass simulation systems, etc are all necessary.

We don't have to build all of that. But the only way the public will ever support sustained higher defence spending is if more of that money is spent at home. And a start-up using AI with Decision Support Systems isn't a bad place to invest.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Article 3​

In order more effectively to achieve the objectives of this Treaty, the Parties, separately and jointly, by means of continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid, will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack.

Self-help
Individual capacity to resist armed attack

Continuous
Effective
Maintain
Develop

Basically, "no free riders, please". Necessary in any venture with a large number of partners. How'd that work out? About as well as managing the tip at the end of a dinner for a bunch of university first-years.

 

[Brad Sallows]

From Carney's speech at Davos

"But let’s be clear-eyed about where this leads. A world of fortresses will be poorer, more fragile, and less sustainable."

Poorer, agree. More fragile, unlikely, unless we see pre-1914 kinds of arms races. Less sustainable - what is that even supposed to mean (ie. in what sense)?

 

[Czech_pivo]

Poorer, agree. More fragile, unlikely, unless we see pre-1914 kinds of arms races. Less sustainable - what is that even supposed to mean (ie. in what sense)?

I think that he's referring to something like the 'Dreadnought' races that were occurring at the turn of the 1900's. The constant race to build more and more warships that led to massive costs and driving up of steel, coal, shipyards and workers. It became unsustainable in the end.

 

[Brad Sallows]

I think that he's referring to something like the 'Dreadnought' races that were occurring at the turn of the 1900's. The constant race to build more and more warships that led to massive costs and driving up of steel, coal, shipyards and workers. It became unsustainable in the end.

Doesn't work well in either the literal (military) or analogized (economic) sense. Redundancies obviously are wasteful, as are all policies which inhibit free trade. Conversely redundancies increase security and stability.

"Unsustainable" has at least two uses. One is that you reach a point and collapse from it. Another is that you reach a point and your growth rate zeroes (ie. the first time derivative is what's unsustainable). The latter is likely; the former much less so.

What I see happening broadly is that Trump's fat fingered china shop bull behaviour has motivated "crisis == opportunity" agendas. People who favour more engagement with China, or Europe, or closer integration within Europe, or revitalized globalisation/internationalisation under modified terms, or just generally have always hated the US, are shilling hard for their respective aims. The only thing they share in common is a remarkable desire to throw much of the Canada-US relationship as fast as they can. It will be a challenge to repair some of the damage; they want to make the damage unrepairable.

 

[childs56]

Modern warfare doesn't just have tanks, ships and airplanes. Sensors, software, autonomous systems, space systems, mass simulation systems, etc are all necessary.

We don't have to build all of that. But the only way the public will ever support sustained higher defence spending is if more of that money is spent at home. And a start-up using AI with Decision Support Systems isn't a bad place to invest.

I wonder if much of the AI hesitation here is the fact that skill fade happens very quickly and our industries do not want to loose the physical/mental experience we already have.
Our Military has been fighting this for decades. Artillery is one example where high tech is good until it isn't. Gun line Survey. Using newer tech is all fine until the GPS and or electrical sensors stop working. Then hopefully they can resort back to the L1A2 Artillery director. If those skills are lost then we will fighting hard to get them back.
I watched a video a bit ago on Sextants and how modern ships use digital ones to calculate their positions and the one Sailor stated they had a hard time using standard sextants and paper charts as everything was digital. The same with the Gyro repeaters. They had digital that fed the electronic map all the information. They were having a hard time keeping current on all the traditional plotting methods along with keeping up with the new digital equipment.
Again Canada designs, integrates, consults and exports lots of AI tech around the world. I would not say we are behind the times as much as Industry is hesitant to incorporate it here.

 

[ytz]

I wonder if much of the AI hesitation here is the fact

Where's here? Industry, government and the CAF are moving to deploy AI. Some people in this forum may think it's a gimmick. But real organizations? Not so much.