National Post View: Which branch of the military, exactly, do the Liberals plan to gut this time?
National Post
24 Mar 2017
This week’s budget deferred $8.5 billion in defence capital expenditures to beyond 2030. That really means the government has absolutely no idea when it will spend that money, if ever. So, a question for the federal Liberal government: which particular branch of the Armed Forces does it feel is currently properly and fully equipped? What, exactly, does the government feel that the military can do without?
This is not just another lamenting of the longstanding multi-party tradition of underfunding the Canadian Armed Forces. As we noted in a recent editorial, Canada’s neglect of the military warrants its own Heritage Minute. Nor is this a gripe over Canada’s continuing failure to honour our pledge to NATO allies to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence, a prospect so remote as to best be deemed science fiction.
No, we’re simply wondering what branch of the Armed Forces Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Finance Minister Bill Morneau and National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan believe is so fully and lavishly equipped that billions of dollars in equipment purchases can be punted off to some unknown and unknowable future without compromising readiness. The budget was rather vague on this point, glossing over the gutting of the military in a mere few pages. Some clarity would be appreciated.
Perhaps it’s the Army? There are any number of projects that the government may have decided simply aren’t needed before the 2030s. Perhaps the long-delayed plan to replace the Second World War-era 9 mm pistols carried by military personnel (mostly but not exclusively in the Army) will be postponed, to save the government a few million bucks. After all, these 70-year-old guns can probably be kept in service for a generation longer. Some might even reach a century of service before being retired. But, no. That’s too ridiculous, and would only save a little bit of money. Perhaps the much more expensive plan to retrofit the LAV III combat vehicles that form the backbone of our infantry battalions, the core of our Army, will be delayed instead. These vehicles were driven into the ground through hard and honourable service in Afghanistan, but can remain effective weapons if properly taken care of. But maybe that can wait 20 years. Or perhaps maintenance of base facilities and barracks will be deferred instead.
Or maybe it won’t be the Army. Perhaps the government has decided that the Navy is simply too flush with cash and really ought to make do with less. But that would be silly, seeing as we still haven’t replaced the 50-year-old Sea King helicopters, we’ve retired both our supply ships without replacements, we no longer have any destroyers, our submarines have perhaps a decade of useful service left in them and the 12 frigates we’re left with are barely enough to patrol our own coasts, let alone contribute meaningfully abroad. So no, surely, the government won’t defer spending from the Navy or its shore bases (as quiet as they must be these days, as our fleet rusts itself into retirement).
That leaves the Air Force, then. With the Army and Navy both clearly in need of as much new equipment as we can provide, the cuts — sorry, the “reprofiling” — must be intended for the Air Force, which, presumably, the government believes has all it needs. But wait! What of the Liberals’ insistence that our fighter squadrons are in such dire shape that only an urgent purchase of 18 “interim” F-18 Super Hornets, at a cost of as much as $7 billion, can save them? This is in fact so urgent a priority, say the Liberals, that there isn’t even time to hold a proper competition to choose our next full-time fighter. The Super Hornets must be rushed into service, whatever the cost. So, maybe we’ll just wait until the 2030s to acquire those fancy new search-and-rescue aircraft we just announced. Try not to get lost, everyone.
You see the problem here, then. The government recognizes the urgent need for new Army weapons and refitted vehicles. It admits the Navy has rusted out and needs dozens of new ships and support vessels. It insists the Air Force is in such crisis that only a rush-buy of fighter jets can keep it flying. And yet it also proposes to cut billions from the equipment budget.
On the face of it, it doesn’t seem to make much sense. But it can’t be that the government hasn’t thought this through, or is daring to talk a good game on supporting the military while starving it for funds. Perish the thought! Some clarity from the Liberals on these matters would certainly put our minds at ease.
