Crunching the CF's budget: Only to be expected

I'm not exactly reassured--and, if one takes the treasury board minister literally,--what about the sailors and air personnel?

Defence spending review won't hurt troops on ground: Day

Treasury Board President Stockwell Day says a spending review ordered at the Department of National Defence shouldn't affect the military's ability to equip soldiers on the ground.

Day announced Monday that 13 departments and agencies, including the Defence Department, have been asked to comb through the combined $35 billion they spend annually and come up with $1.7 billion in savings, equivalent to roughly five per cent.

For the Defence Department and the Canadian Forces, which are still fighting a war in Afghanistan, that will be a daunting task, but Day insisted the review won't affect any plans to procure military equipment [I'm sure from Missouri, plus there is timing--see below].

"We're still going to have our troops and our soldiers and our overall operation seeing an increase, but we're asking for five per cent savings within that increase," he told reporters.

Day noted the defence budget is still expected to increase over the next few years, even though the Conservatives trimmed the rate of spending growth in the March 4 budget [see "So much for the Conservative's "Canada First Defence Strategy", from which March 4: 'On CBC's "Power and Politics", 1706, minister Flaherty said the CF "will have to delay some of their acquisitions".']. Defence spending spiked 22 per cent last year to $19.2 billion [not true on year over year basis, see p. 2 here]...

So much, once again, for Conservative promises of a steady and guaranteed long-term increase in the Forces' funding.

Earlier:

Canadian defence spending: Ineluctable reality

Defence budget...and The Torch in the major media