Wait for me, I'm your leader!

While the Harper government and its increasingly rigid senior bureaucracy continue to hum and haw and leave Canada floundering without the long-awaited Canada First defence policy, the private citizens at The Ruxted Group continue to quietly show the way forward:

We need to be cautious about throwing out capabilities that are not in vogue in order to build new capabilities. Many in the Army's senior leadership ranks thought Canada could toss tanks aside, now we need them. Anti-Submarine Warfare is no longer in vogue, yet the Chinese were just able to pop a submarine up into the middle of a US carrier battle group. Air defence is also not the "it thing" right now, but if we “keep the peace” in Sudan we will need it (or end-up like the French on the other side of that continent) and we certainly want it for high profile domestic operations (G8 or Olympics).

Finally, The Ruxted Group reminds readers that $20 Billion per year, year after year, is not enough. We repeat:

“A good manageable target [for the defence budget] might be: 2.2% of GDP, year after year – declining, perhaps, to 2% of GDP after 15 or 20 years. That would be about $31 Billion (given our 2006 GDP (according to the IMF) of $1.4 Trillion) – that is half again as much as DND says it will receive in 2010.”⁶

The federal Conservatives gained power nearly two years ago, and much good has been done on the defence front in that time. But after writing such a detailed - too detailed, as it turns out - defence platform, the translation into official policy has dragged out interminably. The glacial pace this policy document has set is inexcusable.

Mr. Harper, in two years, a bunch of bloggers have come up with a more comprehensive defence policy than you, with the mighty resources of our nation at your disposal, have. Sort yourself out, sir, and get this done.