• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Government hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

Status
Not open for further replies.
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....
 
Carney's personal interest or his business interest while at Brookfield. Cause honestly I don't think he cares about the latter and probably isn't going back to Brookfield after politics.
At the very least, what he has transferred into the blind trust.

I’d also think it prudent to understand the Chinese-related interests he developed while at Brookfield. I wouldn’t presume that he wouldn’t renegade such interests after his time as PM.
 
Maisonneuve is back in the National Post: ''Canada has far too few soldiers. Here's a radical fix — mandatory service''.

Perhaps I'm wrong but it appears that he is wearing a medal that he shouldn't. Specifically, his CMM neck badge is correct but he shouldn't be sporting a (full-sized) court-mounted OMM.

What do you think?

Michel-Maisonneuve.jpg
 
Anyone who might be listening, and certainly in more places than the WH. Congress, state governments, large municipal governments, industrial powerhouses. Don't allow lack of imagination or understanding of where power and influence reside to limit efforts.

How many of those centres of power and influence can sign trade deals and actually enforce them?
 
If not Trump which Americans are we negotiating with? There's a specific entity sitting across the table authorized to make deals. That is who our Foreign Minister and Prime Minister are negotiating with. If you don't think that is the administration in the White House, than who do you think that is?



Really? Cause our federal ministers and Premiers have been trying this for months. This was the famed Liberal strategy from the first Trump term. This time they seem to be coming up short doing this.

Last time, there were grown ups who Canadians could talk to that could also influence Trump. This time, there are no grown ups and no one is interested in gently trying to influence him away from bad ideas.
 
Last time, there were grown ups who Canadians could talk to that could also influence Trump. This time, there are no grown ups and no one is interested in gently trying to influence him away from bad ideas.
We're going to have to do better than resign ourselves to being a chorus of the lamentation of the women.
 
Maisonneuve is back in the National Post: ''Canada has far too few soldiers. Here's a radical fix — mandatory service''.

Perhaps I'm wrong but it appears that he is wearing a medal that he shouldn't. Specifically, his CMM neck badge is correct but he shouldn't be sporting a (full-sized) court-mounted OMM.

What do you think?

Michel-Maisonneuve.jpg

I think he should lead by example and be our first conscript, this century anyways.

I'd happily volunteer to treat him like I've seen other militaries treat their conscripts ;)
 
If not recognized, it should not be worn.

If non-Canadian, it follows the CD once gazetted.
I love that you keep the pedantic points alive.

You're correct, if not on the official list it needs to be gazetted. Just like the other two medals after his CD...
 
depends on the medal, if it's not one recognized by our honours system it should be after the CD.
Apparently it is the “NATO Meritorious Service Medal”: a commendation awarded to paper-pushers at the personal discretion of NATO’s Secretary General. Unlike a dozen specified NATO campaign medals, it is unrecognized by the Order of Precedence.

As a de jure foreign award, it would correctly be placed after the CD if the recipient was expressly granted permission to wear it by Order in Council; otherwise, it should not be worn at all.

Whether Maisonneuve was granted proper authorization, I have no idea.
 
Do you understand that "influence" means to influence the decision maker(s) and enforcer(s)?

And do you understand that the power structures have changed there and nobody really has influence on Trump? Even Congress rolls over for him now.

You're thinking a lot like the first term Trump era. And this seems to be what the Liberals thought too.
 
Michel-Maisonneuve.jpg


Maisonneuve was invested with the OMM in 1998, and with the CMM in 2004.

The above photo shows that his medal group includes the Diamond Jubilee Medal, which he received in 2012. So obviously he has had his medals re-mounted at least once since being promoted within the Order of Military Merit.

The inclusion of his superseded OMM was almost certainly not laziness, but a deliberate decision to inflate his medal count.
 
Michel-Maisonneuve.jpg


Maisonneuve was invested with the OMM in 1998, and with the CMM in 2004.

The above photo shows that his medal group includes the Diamond Jubilee Medal, which he received in 2012. So obviously he has had his medals re-mounted at least once since being promoted within the Order of Military Merit.

The inclusion of his superseded OMM was almost certainly not laziness, but a deliberate decision to inflate his medal count.
To be fair, most CAF members don't understand the system either.

I've seen many medal racks that are dubious at best...

As a CPO 2 I point them out, but as a CPO 2 I only have so much influence.
 
Yes other Canadians live in the same places for less money, but we shouldn't be shooting for the bottom. If we want motivated young people to join, we need to make it appealing to the motivated, not the equivalent of working as a supervisor at Best Buy.
I don't see it as shooting for the bottom. The last time I looked military pay was tied to the Fed civil service pay with a military factor notching it slightly higher. Some may argue, mut Fed civil service pay is better than competitive with most civil jobs in the same category. That was certainly the case for the legal profession where Federal support staff did considerably better than their private industry peers.

There are already numerous pay allowances in play to compensate specific cases and I certainly do not support any across the board pay raises beyond the usual cost of living ones. If someone finally turns on the tap for more funds than my priorities are for equipment as number one and more part-time people to build mass as number two. I'll support more full-time people once a proper systemic review and reform is done to resolve the inherent "management" inefficiencies of DND, the CAF, the CAF's recruiting and training system, the equipment procurement system and the defence industrial base.

🍻
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top