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....

 

[daftandbarmy]

Bill should check with the PBO on that.

 

[OldSolduer]

According to Bill Blair, there may be a plan to get us to 2% being announced at the summit. We shall see.

I would rather listen to Joel Osteen than this bag of wind.

At least Osteen we know is a grifter. I am not sure what Blair is other than an LPC toady.

 

[Cloud Cover]

AGF Investment report even makes note of expected trade, investment, security cooperation and other difficulty Canada could have with D Trump as President, going so far as to label the situation as “Canada- the NATO Pariah.”
Ottawa had better come up with a serious defence capability spending plan on a very abridged timeline or this country is going to be wearing the dunce cap in the corner.

 

[MilEME09]

Ah yes, the good ol' 'Centralized Brigade Recruiting' scam. I'll assume this goes along with creating more Class B positions for 'deserving' members, as with similar efforts in the past. Be prepared for panicky and short notice requests for sitreps of various types, resembling the desperate ramblings from a distant, dying planet.

As always that's a senior leadership problem and, with senior leaders being largely unaccountable for their actions within ARes CBGs, I suspect you won't see many improvements while the parade square floors empty out

That system created a lot of scum bags though, we had a recruiter that lied and told candidates every other trade was full. So people joined as supply or MSE, so on paper we recruited like a compnay. 80% then OT'd to the trade they wanted once they found out the truth.

 

[markppcli]

Of course we'd then see more lavish change of command, and other, dog and pony shows

Or you know… we could buy helmet mounts for head sets, and replace PTTs without having to go through LCMR.

 

[Remius]

Or you know… we could buy helmet mounts for head sets, and replace PTTs without having to go through LCMR.

Or purchase/reimburse chest rigs, LBEs until the army can figure out what to get us. Plenty of local purchase stuff to make units more effective. And then share best practices to encourage standards.

 

[daftandbarmy]

It's as if he's on a different planet ... but he knows his base:


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a climate address at the NATO summit in Washington on Tuesday, speaking about how climate change is an "existential environmental threat" and "one of the defining security issues of our time."

 

[ytz]

Sally Soccer Mom doesn’t care if we’re in NATO or not

She generally won't care until there's economic consequences. Same for governments. There's potential economic consequences to being left out of AUKUS, which is why the government is starting to care. There's also a building risk that trade deals start to lock out Canada, with the recent friendshoring trend. More than anything this is what might motivate Canadian action.

My unpopular opinion is we need more dog and ponies, just targeted better.

We 100% do. I attended the Centennial Flypast on Canada Day. I have never seen a public reaction like that. We need to start doing stuff like this outside of airshows.

 

[Maxman1]

We 100% do. I attended the Centennial Flypast on Canada Day. I have never seen a public reaction like that. We need to start doing stuff like this outside of airshows.

And on NSP and CG, public reaction is generally positive. We should really do more like that, like freedom of the city parades.

 

[PPCLI Guy]

It's as if he's on a different planet ... but he knows his base:


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a climate address at the NATO summit in Washington on Tuesday, speaking about how climate change is an "existential environmental threat" and "one of the defining security issues of our time."

Mother of god.

And I don't mean Margret....

 

[rmc_wannabe]

It's as if he's on a different planet ... but he knows his base:


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a climate address at the NATO summit in Washington on Tuesday, speaking about how climate change is an "existential environmental threat" and "one of the defining security issues of our time."

I...

Wow. What in the actual hell is he talking about?

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Politico has an interesting article on the 12 most important people to watch at the NATO summit and our MND is right up there at the top.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/09/nato-summit-leaders-characters-00165831

 

[daftandbarmy]

Mother of god.

And I don't mean Margret....

The rest of NATO be like...

 

[KevinB]

Politico has an interesting article on the 12 most important people to watch at the NATO summit and our MND is right up there at the top.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/09/nato-summit-leaders-characters-00165831

And a special on Canada too, albeit from your chronic failure to spend.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/08/nato-summit-canada-commitment-00166648

 

[dimsum]

Spain may be a free loader but that 1.3% allows them to field 8 regular maneuver brigades, artillery and engineer brigades, plus 3 garrison brigades. Their Air Force has 9 fighter squadrons, while the Navy is relatively small but still contains a power projection capability with and air crafter carrier, and their newest ships will arrive next year.

I mean on paper, we have 9 Inf Bns, etc etc.

The question is to what percentage they are crewed, what percentage are the fighters (and other equipment) serviceable, and most importantly, how well (or not) their troops are paid.

The CAF is still near the top for pay in comparison to other NATO nations. Maybe slipping a bit further down with Finland and Sweden in the mix, but probably not bc of conscription (and high COL for those countries).

 

[RangerRay]

It's as if he's on a different planet ... but he knows his base:


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a climate address at the NATO summit in Washington on Tuesday, speaking about how climate change is an "existential environmental threat" and "one of the defining security issues of our time."

WTAF? JFC…

 

[ytz]

It's as if he's on a different planet ... but he knows his base:


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a climate address at the NATO summit in Washington on Tuesday, speaking about how climate change is an "existential environmental threat" and "one of the defining security issues of our time."

Unpopular opinion here. He's not wrong that climate change is a threat multiplier. That said, saying you face major threats and then not equipping your response forces isn't exactly sincere.

As for his base.... Who exactly are they? All the 25 year olds who voted for him in 2015 are now 35 and mad about housing. They are less concerned about climate change now.

 

[dimsum]

Unpopular opinion here. He's not wrong that climate change is a threat multiplier. That said, saying you face major threats and then not equipping your response forces isn't exactly sincere.

As for his base.... Who exactly are they? All the 25 year olds who voted for him in 2015 are now 35 and mad about housing. They are less concerned about climate change now.

The US Govt (and military) has said climate change was a major threat for years.

Tackling the Climate Crisis

The planet's changing climate has a significant effect on Defense Department missions, plans and installations. DOD is elevating climate change as a national security priority, integrating climate considerations into policies, strategies and partner engagements.

www.defense.gov

DOD Preparing for Climate Change Impacts, Official Says

Climate change is dramatically increasing the demand for military operations and impacting our readiness and our ability to meet those demands, the Defense Department's chief sustainability officer

www.defense.gov

 

[PrairieFella]

Unpopular opinion here. He's not wrong that climate change is a threat multiplier. That said, saying you face major threats and then not equipping your response forces isn't exactly sincere.

As for his base.... Who exactly are they? All the 25 year olds who voted for him in 2015 are now 35 and mad about housing. They are less concerned about climate change now.

Especially with the instability it'll cause in the third world. Climate change most certainly is a security threat because it'll drive people to do desperate shit. The broken clock is right twice a day.

 

[rmc_wannabe]

Unpopular opinion here. He's not wrong that climate change is a threat multiplier. That said, saying you face major threats and then not equipping your response forces isn't exactly sincere.

Bingo. This is akin to lecturing someone about their cholesterol, when they have a sucking chest wound and are going into shock....