The Budget on National Defence and Afghanistan

(Cross-posted, with a few amendments, from The Phantom Observer.)

Mark, in an earlier post, complains that there is "no mention" of the Canadian Forces or of National Defence in the Budget Speech. And while he does mention the fact that the Coast Guard is getting new vessels, you get the feeling, from the overall tone of his post, that somehow the Coast Guard has a lesser function than, say, the Navy.

As it turns out, though, the issue of defence hasn't been completely ignored by this Budget. Here is Chapter 4 of the Budget Plan, entitled Leadership Abroad. Specifically, the paragraph with the title of Canada First Defence Strategy:

This budget provides the funding stability and predictability that will allow for the successful implementation of the Canada First Defence Strategy by increasing the automatic annual increase on defence spending to 2 per cent (from the current 1.5 per cent) beginning in 2011–12. Over the next 20 years, this is expected to provide the Canadian Forces with an additional $12 billion.

Now, if I'm honest, I'll admit that I can't say whether this was planned from the launch of CFDS, and is therefore not news. Also, whether or not this counts as an actual spending increase will depend on the rate of inflation. However, I think we can all agree that defence spending is one of those areas where the government should not cut back on.

All right. How about Afghanistan?

The Government is providing an additional $100 million for reconstruction and development, bringing Canada’s 2008–09 assistance budget for Afghanistan to a projected $280 million. Additional resources will help the Afghan people, including through the provision of more training to the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army to allow them to take increasing responsibility for security in Kandahar and throughout the country. These additional funds are above and beyond the commitment to double international assistance by 2010–11, and will increase Canada’s total aid commitment to Afghanistan to $1.3 billion over 10 years.

Incidentally, I found these passages via the Budget's Quick Index page. I'll also add that, when I checked the page out last night, the links weren't there, so I expect the site will be more fully updated over the next 24 hours.

So why weren't these topics mentioned in the Budget Speech? In all likelihood, because they don't really loom all that largely on the public's minds, compared with the need for domestic stimulus. Remember that, while a Budget Speech outlines the government's main spending plans, it doesn't describe everything important that the government plans to do. (That's what the Speech from the Throne is for.)

By the way, if you want to see what National Defence has in store for 2009-10, the best place to look would be the Supplementary Estimates from Treasury Board, and those aren't out yet.

UPDATE (17h24): It seems I may have linked to last year’s budget documents. My fault, I shoulda checked closer. Nonetheless, I’ll stand by my penultimate paragraph.