Armed Forces Still Short Changed ?

[tomahawk6]

Interesting article by Colin Kennedy.My guess is that Mr Kennedy wouldnt spend anymore on defense than previous Liberal governments have its just convenient for him to attack the conservatives for not doing more. That said I have to agree with his thesis which is a government has as its foremost responsibility the defense of the nation. It is true that Canadian defense spending is way down from the past. I would hope that PM Harper would grab this bull by the horns and ratchet up his governments defense spending to at least 1.6% of GNP and personally an increase of 2% would be best. The CF requires an infusion of cash to fund the transformation and modernization of the CF. The Navy and Air Force need much more spending to remain relevant in the 21st century. While the land forces are seeing more spending because of the war this is money that waqs much needed to reverse decades of neglect by successive Liberal governments.

The CF needs a commitment by the government and the Canadian people to have a military that is capable of performing any mission it is tasked with whether its a domestic emergency or an overseas mission that supports Canada's foreign policy aims.An immediate increase in defense spending is necessary in these uncertain times. The Harper government can do no less for its citizenry.

http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=42bedee3-da7a-40d0-8060-43685da980cc

advancement of their interests at home and abroad. To do this effectively -- particularly in times of domestic or international crises -- a country needs a military with a little muscle on its bones.

Not everybody agrees. There are many Canadians who decry the use of military force generally. And given the number of stupid wars that have taken so many lives over the centuries, they have a point. But anyone who lives in the real world knows that tyrants don't bend to diplomatic pressure unless there is the threat of force behind that pressure. We're simply not going to help contribute to a better world by eviscerating our military.

I believe that the people who have been running our country for the past couple of decades -- be they Liberals or Conservatives -- have declined to invest reasonable amounts of public money into Canada's military. I also think that this is likely to leave the physical, economic and cultural protection of future generations of Canadians largely to chance.

announced budgetary planning would do almost nothing to change that.

Countries like the Netherlands spend about two per cent of Gross National Product on their armed forces. That's pretty well the norm for mid-sized industrialized countries that use their military judiciously, rather than aggressively.

Back in 1991 Canada spent 1.6 per cent of GNP on defence. We're now down to about 1.1 per cent. Although the long-overdue "Canada First Defence Strategy" has yet to be released, spending options have been leaked and none of them would change that percentage by more than a hair.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

He has been quite vocal about his own parties lack of spending when they were in power in the past..

 

[DualCore]

He'd make a more credible argument if he just stuck with the military funding stuff, and didn't try to tie it to justifying a wretched institution like the Canadian Senate.

 

[MarkOttawa]

tomahawk6: Sen. Kenny and the committee were just as tough on the Liberals--see this Sept. 2005 report:

WOUNDED
Canada’s Military and the Legacy of Neglect
Our Disappearing Options for Defending the Nation Abroad and at Home
http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/defe-e/rep-e/repintsep05-e.htm

From the report:

The Department of National Defence plans to spend approximately $14.3 billion in 2005-2006.[3] If the federal government had followed the November, 2002, recommendations of this Committee, made in the report “For an Extra 130 Bucks,” the current budget would be approximately $17.5 billion, and it would have spent $15.28 billion more on defence than it did between 2002-2005.

In fact our 2002 estimates were unrealistically low. The more we look, the more holes we see. What should Canada’s defence budget be today? Something in the order of $25-35 billion...

...The government’s commitment in its International Policy Statement to invest in Triple D – defence, diplomacy and development – are good words but they aren’t backed up with dollars. You don’t have to be Bono to recognize that we’re faking it.

In 1990-1991, defence spending represented 1.6 per cent of GDP. As a percentage of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – the measure of our annual economic output – defence spending has fallen a precipitous 62.5 per cent over the past 15 years.[5]

Our per-capita spending on defence and foreign aid pales in comparison to many other developed countries. The $420 per capita Canada spent on defence in 2004 is far short of what either the United Kingdom (approximately $988 per capita), the Netherlands (approximately $793 per capita) or Australia (approximately $844 per capita) spent (see Appendix III for a more detailed comparison with other countries).[6]..

Mark
Ottawa

 

[I_am_John_Galt]

Okay, so the Senate thinks that the military is underfunded, but they are powerless to do anything about it, other than writing multimillion dollar "Reports" that seem to be completely ignored by the Commons.  How does this show that they are relevent/beneficial/useful?