More money is better, but...

...we do live in a liberal democracy, folks. Which means that unless there's a compelling national security reason to hide the information - not just a political one - the government has a duty to disclose and explain its defence funding and the policy that drives that funding.

Our government is failing in that duty.

Oh, they're buying much-needed new equipment, they're listening (to some degree at least) to the military professionals about what's required and what's possible on defence issues, they're promising even more money in the years to come, and they're paying more attention to defence than any Canadian government has in decades.

Moreover, the new funding scheme seems to understand that more is required for both the day-to-day operations of the CF, and for the recapitalization of the CF. For years, the department raided the capital expenses budget in order to buy gas and spare parts for normal operational needs. That cannibalization of the Future Force to feed the Present Force was deemed the least bad of a spread of grim options for the department. It was eating your seed wheat. The current CPC government at least seems to understand that that cannot continue if the CF is to be a strong and useful tool of domestic and foreign policy as it should be.

So Bravo Zulu to the Conservatives for all that.

But there's absolutely no good reason that I can see for them not to tell the Canadian public what their plans are for the CF. None at all.

Update: Egad. When I'm agreeing with a Toronto Star editorial on a defence matter, it's a sure sign you're about to hear the hoofbeats of the Four Horsemen anytime now. And yet...

Bringing Canada's base defence budget up to $30 billion in 2031, from $20 billion in 2011, will require annual increases of 2 per cent. That adds up, over time, to a $100 billion total cumulative new investment. That's where Gen. Natynczyk gets the $50 billion figure. Roughly half of defence spending goes to capital purchases.

So, in truth, Harper could and should have announced a $100 billion "total investment" in the military, with $50 billion going to hardware, when he unveiled his strategy. But perhaps he felt even Conservative supporters might recoil in sticker shock. In any event, Harper played up the base budget, without going into the implications.

Parliament, already in a stir over the $50 billion figure, went into a paroxysm over $100 billion. Understandably, the Liberals and others are now pressing the Conservatives to table the background documents on which the strategy hinges. They want to know what the real figures are, what that money will buy, and when.

Given the confusion Harper has sown, it's a fair request.

And apart from withholding the figures, the Conservatives have yet to unveil any coherent strategic vision for the military, for what the Canadian Forces will be tasked to do in the next quarter-century. The Tories appear to be spending faster than they are thinking.

Make no mistake. Major investments are needed. Harper's plan to increase the military to 100,000 regulars and reservists makes sense. And rust-out is a real problem. Even at $30 billion, Canada will spend less on the military than many of our allies.

But the Conservatives should level with the people who are footing the bill. That would be us. Let's see the vision, and the spending plan.

I agree with every word of that excerpt.