National National Defence Minister radio interview/here's hoping
Minister O'Connor will be on CFRA, Ottawa, Madely in the Morning sometime between 0700-0900, May 4. Should be interesting as Madely has been critical of the lack of specifics on new equipment for the CF in the budget--and has a pretty good knowledge of things military.
Listen live;if you miss it you should be able hear it later at CFRA Interviews.
Update: The interview (starts with NORAD renewal). Here's hoping.
Minister O'Connor said he has 6-8 projects for which there is financing and he will be going to Cabinet for approvals through the year. The four airlift projects (strategic, tactical, fixed-wing SAR/light tactical, helicopters) are the priority. No mention specifically of joint support ships or amphibious ship but they presumably are in the 6-8.
Territorial battalions in major cities will go ahead. No mention of the silly campaign promises to put (now non-existent) regular Army battalions in Goose Bay, Bagotville, Trenton and Comox.
Navy icebreakers are "a few years out". Thank goodness--get them for the Coast Guard and sooner.
Pretty much along the lines of this story.
Jack Granatstein takes a dim view unless the money really is there (full text not online).
...
And what about new equipment for the Forces? The budget says nothing about this beyond a mention that "the full cost of capital acquisitions will be provided on a cash basis in the years they are acquired." Will there be new heavy airlift? New Hercules transports? New trucks? Joint Support Ships, icebreakers, patrol craft? No one knows. To be fair, the government has been in power only for 100 days, and perhaps the Supplementary Estimates (or a new budget) in the fall will provide some guidance. Or perhaps not...
Most important, Mr. Harper's government is in a tenuous minority position. Paul Martin's government made huge promises of money for the Canadian Forces, but virtually all of it was scheduled to arrive in 2009-10, long after the Liberals went into the dustbin in January's election. The Harper government cannot promise spending measures five years ahead with any more confidence than the Liberals. The government genuinely might wish to improve the condition and fighting abilities of the Canadian Forces, but wishes are worthless without political will and the funding to implement them...
J. L. Granatstein writes on behalf of the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century.
Echoes of Sen. Colin Kenny, who knows more about defence than any other person in Parliament.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
Listen live;if you miss it you should be able hear it later at CFRA Interviews.
Update: The interview (starts with NORAD renewal). Here's hoping.
Minister O'Connor said he has 6-8 projects for which there is financing and he will be going to Cabinet for approvals through the year. The four airlift projects (strategic, tactical, fixed-wing SAR/light tactical, helicopters) are the priority. No mention specifically of joint support ships or amphibious ship but they presumably are in the 6-8.
Territorial battalions in major cities will go ahead. No mention of the silly campaign promises to put (now non-existent) regular Army battalions in Goose Bay, Bagotville, Trenton and Comox.
Navy icebreakers are "a few years out". Thank goodness--get them for the Coast Guard and sooner.
Pretty much along the lines of this story.
Jack Granatstein takes a dim view unless the money really is there (full text not online).
...
And what about new equipment for the Forces? The budget says nothing about this beyond a mention that "the full cost of capital acquisitions will be provided on a cash basis in the years they are acquired." Will there be new heavy airlift? New Hercules transports? New trucks? Joint Support Ships, icebreakers, patrol craft? No one knows. To be fair, the government has been in power only for 100 days, and perhaps the Supplementary Estimates (or a new budget) in the fall will provide some guidance. Or perhaps not...
Most important, Mr. Harper's government is in a tenuous minority position. Paul Martin's government made huge promises of money for the Canadian Forces, but virtually all of it was scheduled to arrive in 2009-10, long after the Liberals went into the dustbin in January's election. The Harper government cannot promise spending measures five years ahead with any more confidence than the Liberals. The government genuinely might wish to improve the condition and fighting abilities of the Canadian Forces, but wishes are worthless without political will and the funding to implement them...
J. L. Granatstein writes on behalf of the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century.
Echoes of Sen. Colin Kenny, who knows more about defence than any other person in Parliament.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 3:07 p.m.
8 Comments:
So Mark, are you still disapointed? Or is this shaping up to be better than originally thought?
cameron: I"m more optimistic--but show me the signed contracts for the right equipment.
And chop the nonsense.
Mark
Ottawa
As a Quebecer I'm institutionally programemed to be wary of "don't worry, I have some plans" kind of promices. So the 6 or 7 pirorities, with out the priorties spelled out worries me.
I keep thinking tha twe need to look to contries our size in terms of populations, see what they are doing right and hten tailor it to the geographical realities of Canada.
I also think that I need to get my typos under control.
Cameron: Compare our forces with the Netherlands'. We have almost twice the population yet their forces and equipment virtually equal ours. Enough said.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Forces
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_the_Netherlands
Mark
Ottawa
Mark, my point remains that I'm worried that we're still looking at what's cool, what the US has and preparing for a war we're not going to ever fight.
I mean, and this is based on my limited knowledge, isn't Lord Strathcona's Horse still listed as a MBT dealy?
That's just silly.
Cameron: The Dutch have AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and an amphibious ship and subs that work.
Cool.
Mark
Ottawa
That's my point.
Figure out what we need. Figure out what we're good at. Figure out what we need first. Make a list. Fund it yearly. Buy and repair and replace and train
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