"The Goose Bay boondoggle"

More good analysis from Sen. Colin Kenny.

Goose Bay Air Base in Labrador has a proud military history that stretches back to its pivotal role as a bridge to the European theatre during the Second World War. Sadly, the base has become strategically irrelevant.

Even more sadly, this irrelevance to Canada's military needs hasn't stopped the country's two largest political parties from funnelling money into the base in attempts to win one federal seat: the riding of Labrador.

If this were one lone military boondoggle, it would be one too many. But it isn't. The Department of Defence owns one building for every five soldiers in uniform. Many of our military facilities are redundant, but keep sapping funds from the Canadian Forces because politicians aren't willing to risk votes by doing the right thing...

The Conservatives then upped the ante. They failed to win the seat in the 2006 election, but not before Prime Minister Stephen Harper had promised to locate approximately 650 Rapid Response troops and their families in Goose Bay -- requiring the building of new infrastructure, of course, to house and train this new force.

For a start, this was clearly a ridiculous location for a specialized force, which should be located on a major base with appropriate support facilities.

Last week the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence came down with a new report, Managing Turmoil. It spoke of things that elected politicians dread to talk about. It pointed out that Canada can ill afford to waste defence dollars for political purposes when there isn't enough money in the defence budget to allow the Canadian Forces to do their job...

...There are hundreds of outdated military facilities across this country -- including reserve armouries with their own proud histories -- which should be closed or amalgamated in the interests of creating a more efficient military...

- Senator Colin Kenny is chair of the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence. He can be reached via e-mail at kennyco@sen.parl.gc.ca.

Now if only some other "Stupid Conservative defence promises" might quietly fade away, like the regular Army battalions pledged also for Bagotville, Trenton and Comox.