DND cuts are coming
Lawson demands hunt for ‘efficiencies’
Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson says everything is on the table in bid to balance budget.
Canada’s military was put on notice Friday that no stone will go unturned as the government slashes hundreds of millions of dollars in defence spending.
National Defence is facing budget cuts of between $1.1 billion and $2.5 billion over the next three years. This has resulted in a behind-thescenes struggle between different branches of the military over what should be cut and what is necessary for Canada’s men and women in uniform to continue doing their jobs.
That struggle has occasionally broken into public view, notably in the form of repeated warnings from Prime Minister Stephen Harper last year that National Defence will be required to do its part to cut the federal deficit.
Canada’s new top soldier appears to have gotten the message as he used a major speech at a defence conference in Ottawa on Friday to warn that implementing those budget cuts will be the Canadian Forces’ “centre of gravity” for the foreseeable future.
“There’s a budget to balance and Defence must do its part,” Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson told a crowd of senior military officers, industry representatives and experts. “That is an immutable fact.” Organizations only undertake significant efforts to make themselves leaner and more efficient “when forced to make substantial cuts, or when they’re motivated by the opportunity to reinvest the savings in themselves,” Lawson said.
This is exactly the situation National Defence is in, he said, given the prime minister’s demand for “more teeth and less tail” by cutting administrative costs and putting the money back into front-line capabilities. “It will be our centre of gravity for a year, two years, three years to come,” Lawson warned, adding that everything will be examined for savings.
Lawson, who was appointed the top soldier in October, attempted to put a happy face on things, stating that the Canadian Forces is in much better shape than it was during the 1990s. That’s when the Chrétien government gutted the military with deep, across-the-board cuts.
Yet Lawson also said the review in defence spending “is not something we’ve attempted in recent times,” a statement that might provoke concerns given lingering memories of those cuts in the ’90s.
And he voiced confidence in the government’s decision to order deep budget cuts before deciding what roles and missions it wants the Canadian Forces to fulfil over the next 20 years, rather than basing the cuts on a new vision statement.
“So let’s do this really tough work and see what efficiencies we can get through our processes, and then we’ll talk about a rewrite, or at least a refinement or refresh of (the) strategy,” he said. “That makes good sense to me.”
Defence Minister Peter MacKay indicated the government isn’t anywhere close to finishing its new vision for the Canadian Forces after its initial plan, unveiled in 2008, was found to be unaffordable only three years later.
Speaking from Brussels where he was attending a NATO meeting, MacKay indicated the results — which will put down the military’s main role and objectives — won’t be revealed until after the spending cuts are implemented.
“There is a necessity to adjust and synchronize that document with the realities of both operational tempo and, of course, the fiscal realities,” he said.
Exactly what will be hit by the defence cuts remains a mystery.
Reports have surfaced that reserve units are seeing their budget hit hard, the government was contemplating charging municipalities and provinces for emergency assistance, and mental health services were on the chopping block until public pressure forced a reversal.
The government is also looking at privatizing some aspects of military base management and putting off major equipment purchases.