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

[Kirkhill]

I hear the British might have some used kit for us, again

The Ajax tank scandal shames the British Army

The defence ‘blob’ is sacrificing national security and soldiers’ safety in order to silence its critics.

www.spiked-online.com

"Adding insult to injury, Robert Skivington, a senior manager at General Dynamics, mocked troops for supposedly not ‘sitting in the seat correctly’ in the tanks, as if the problem were posture rather than a design flaw shaking these men half-senseless."

I read that and thought I was reading the Onion or the Beaverton..

Skivington?

 

[PPCLI Guy]

All helicopters from Bell.

All special mission aircraft from Bombardier.

<Snip>

Etc.

Picking national champions. Very French of us.

All fixed wing drones - Sentinel R+D

 

[Kirkhill]

Latvia, Phillipines, Spain, Austria - Bought what was on offer

 

[Kirkhill]

All fixed wing drones - Sentinel R+D

This mob?

Products — Sentinel R&D

www.sentinelrd.com

 

[PPCLI Guy]

This mob?

Products — Sentinel R&D

www.sentinelrd.com

Yup!

 

[Cloud Cover]

You have one in your garage?

 

[PPCLI Guy]

That is in the factory....

 

[Infanteer]

Picking national champions. Very French of us.

Does it work for the Israelis? For the Swedes?

 

[Kirkhill]

Yup!

View attachment 98520

Better sense of scale.
Predator form in a Raven package.

 

[Czech_pivo]

Shots fired in major drive by shooting from Stefanie Beck.

Boosted defence spending 'nowhere near what we need,' former top DND official says

The former top bureaucrat at DND warned that the billions in defence spending promised by the government is "nowhere near what we need."

nationalpost.com

Maybe we now know the reason for her ‘retirement’ last month, lol.

 

[Quirky]

Shots fired in major drive by shooting from Stefanie Beck.

Boosted defence spending 'nowhere near what we need,' former top DND official says

The former top bureaucrat at DND warned that the billions in defence spending promised by the government is "nowhere near what we need."

nationalpost.com

Maybe we now know the reason for her ‘retirement’ last month, lol.

Shouldn’t be a shock. This government is all about announcements, press conferences and strategies.

 

[dapaterson]

Shots fired in major drive by shooting from Stefanie Beck.

Boosted defence spending 'nowhere near what we need,' former top DND official says

The former top bureaucrat at DND warned that the billions in defence spending promised by the government is "nowhere near what we need."

nationalpost.com

Maybe we now know the reason for her ‘retirement’ last month, lol.

She is staying what's well known - successive generations of "leadership" in DND/CAF failed to maintain the underlying infrastructure of the system. That includes buildings, processes and functions needed to ensure readiness, because it's always sexier to chase the new than to maintain what's already there.

 

[Czech_pivo]

She is staying what's well known - successive generations of "leadership" in DND/CAF failed to maintain the underlying infrastructure of the system. That includes buildings, processes and functions needed to ensure readiness, because it's always sexier to chase the new than to maintain what's already there.

Can a comparison be made to the massive backlog in repairs to the infrastructure issues facing most (all?) school boards across the country (at least in Ontario) today?

Here's a snippet of the state of repair for schools (both Public and Catholic) across Ontario -

Ontario School Boards: School Building Condition, Student Capacity and Capital Budgeting - This report reviews school buildings in Ontario, including building condition and the state of good repair. The report also compares student enrolment and scho

This report reviews school buildings in Ontario, including building condition and the state of good repair. The report also compares student enrolment and school capacity to examine the number of schools that are under and over capacity. Finally, the report provides an estimate of the cost to...

fao-on.org

"As of March 31, 2024, the FAO estimates that 3,037 schools (62.6 per cent) were in a state of good repair (SOGR) and 1,813 schools (37.4 per cent) were below SOGR, of which 1,781 schools required rehabilitation and 32 schools should be replaced."

• By school system, 43.3 per cent of English Public system school buildings were below SOGR, 27.3 per cent of English Catholic school buildings were below SOGR, 31.7 per cent of French Public school buildings were below SOGR, and 25.7 per cent of French Catholic school buildings were below SOGR.
• In total, the FAO estimates that it would cost $21.7 billion to clear the infrastructure backlog and maintain all school buildings in a state of good repair over the 2024-25 to 2033-34 period. This includes $16.3 billion for school buildings in the English Public school system, $4.0 billion for the English Catholic school system, $0.4 billion for the French Public school system, and $1.0 billion for the French Catholic school system.

It doesn't matter if its the current state of the CAF or the current state of the primary/secondary education infrastructure across Ontario (Canada), its a decades old systematic approach by ALL political parties has put us in our current situation. Kick the can down the road and let the next person deal with it.

 

[Furniture]

Can a comparison be made to the massive backlog in repairs to the infrastructure issues facing most (all?) school boards across the country (at least in Ontario) today?

Here's a snippet of the state of repair for schools (both Public and Catholic) across Ontario -

Ontario School Boards: School Building Condition, Student Capacity and Capital Budgeting - This report reviews school buildings in Ontario, including building condition and the state of good repair. The report also compares student enrolment and scho

This report reviews school buildings in Ontario, including building condition and the state of good repair. The report also compares student enrolment and school capacity to examine the number of schools that are under and over capacity. Finally, the report provides an estimate of the cost to...

fao-on.org

"As of March 31, 2024, the FAO estimates that 3,037 schools (62.6 per cent) were in a state of good repair (SOGR) and 1,813 schools (37.4 per cent) were below SOGR, of which 1,781 schools required rehabilitation and 32 schools should be replaced."

• By school system, 43.3 per cent of English Public system school buildings were below SOGR, 27.3 per cent of English Catholic school buildings were below SOGR, 31.7 per cent of French Public school buildings were below SOGR, and 25.7 per cent of French Catholic school buildings were below SOGR.
• In total, the FAO estimates that it would cost $21.7 billion to clear the infrastructure backlog and maintain all school buildings in a state of good repair over the 2024-25 to 2033-34 period. This includes $16.3 billion for school buildings in the English Public school system, $4.0 billion for the English Catholic school system, $0.4 billion for the French Public school system, and $1.0 billion for the French Catholic school system.

It doesn't matter if its the current state of the CAF or the current state of the primary/secondary education infrastructure across Ontario (Canada), its a decades old systematic approach by ALL political parties has put us in our current situation. Kick the can down the road and let the next person deal with it.

Doing unsexy maintenance work on infrastructure doesn't get you re-elected.

 

[Czech_pivo]

Doing unsexy maintenance work on infrastructure doesn't get you re-elected.

I agree, but we need 'boring' to be sexy again.

 

[dapaterson]

I agree, but we need 'boring' to be sexy again.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Doing unsexy maintenance work on infrastructure doesn't get you re-elected.

I was discussing this with one my municipal councillors, last week.

I am a bit tired of bike lanes and speed bump announcements. Could we please focus on replacing sewer lines?

 

[Czech_pivo]

I was discussing this with one my municipal councillors, last week.

I am a bit tired of bike lanes and speed bump announcements. Could we please focus on replacing sewer lines?

And what sort of answer did he/she give you?

In the past, I've been pleasantly happy overall with the approach towards infrastructure renewal where I live in Burlington, ON. For certain that has been some frivolous/wasteful spending but overall I'd give our city council a solid 7/10 over the last 15yrs I've lived here.

In those 15yrs I have been positively impacted by the following:
1) 'Relined' the watermains on my street
2) 'Relined' the sewer lines on my street
3) Replaced the road/curbs/sidewalk on my street
4) Replaced the street lights with LED (I'm on the fence with this one because I don't think they are as 'bright' as before and the street seems darker
5) Provided each household with up to a 1k rebate if they installed 'backflow' preventors in their houses
6) Provided each household in my area with a rebate up to 250$ to disconnect their downspouts from the stormwater systems
7) The city prunes all city owned trees every 3yrs along the street

But, they have wasted a fair amount of money on the painting/maintaining bike lanes that have reduced lanes from 4 to 2 with a middle turning lane. On the streets around me, these bike lanes might have a 5% usage overall but the city refuses to remove them.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

And what sort of answer did he/she give you?

In the past, I've been pleasantly happy overall with the approach towards infrastructure renewal where I live in Burlington, ON. For certain that has been some frivolous/wasteful spending but overall I'd give our city council a solid 7/10 over the last 15yrs I've lived here.

In those 15yrs I have been positively impacted by the following:
1) 'Relined' the watermains on my street
2) 'Relined' the sewer lines on my street
3) Replaced the road/curbs/sidewalk on my street
4) Replaced the street lights with LED (I'm on the fence with this one because I don't think they are as 'bright' as before and the street seems darker
5) Provided each household with up to a 1k rebate if they installed 'backflow' preventors in their houses
6) Provided each household in my area with a rebate up to 250$ to disconnect their downspouts from the stormwater systems
7) The city prunes all city owned trees every 3yrs along the street

But, they have wasted a fair amount of money on the painting/maintaining bike lanes that have reduced lanes from 4 to 2 with a middle turning lane. On the streets around me, these bike lanes might have a 5% usage overall but the city refuses to remove them.

The councillor was onboard with my thinking- spend the budget on the non-sexy, but necessary basic infrastructure maintenance, first.

 

[Eaglelord17]

And what sort of answer did he/she give you?

In the past, I've been pleasantly happy overall with the approach towards infrastructure renewal where I live in Burlington, ON. For certain that has been some frivolous/wasteful spending but overall I'd give our city council a solid 7/10 over the last 15yrs I've lived here.

In those 15yrs I have been positively impacted by the following:
1) 'Relined' the watermains on my street
2) 'Relined' the sewer lines on my street
3) Replaced the road/curbs/sidewalk on my street
4) Replaced the street lights with LED (I'm on the fence with this one because I don't think they are as 'bright' as before and the street seems darker
5) Provided each household with up to a 1k rebate if they installed 'backflow' preventors in their houses
6) Provided each household in my area with a rebate up to 250$ to disconnect their downspouts from the stormwater systems
7) The city prunes all city owned trees every 3yrs along the street

But, they have wasted a fair amount of money on the painting/maintaining bike lanes that have reduced lanes from 4 to 2 with a middle turning lane. On the streets around me, these bike lanes might have a 5% usage overall but the city refuses to remove them.

Varies city to city.

Mine had to rip up one of the main streets again because when they ripped it up 5 years ago they didn’t change out the 100+yr old cast piping at that time. When asked why they didn’t their response was it should have been done but it wasn’t.

Incompetence thrives in lack of accountability. Many in this country get bonuses for failing because they technically met the requirements for the bonus, but not what the spirit of the bonus was supposed to be (hence things like the Phoenix pay system, got bonuses for rolling it out, not for having a working program).