CUTS TO DEFENCE ARE INDEFENSIBLE
In defence of Defence: It’s politically easy to cut Canadian Forces spending, but we can’t expect our men and women to fi ght with ages- old equipment
‘ The government took office with a firm commitment to stand up for Canada,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared in the Canada First Defence Strategy. “Fulfilling this obligation means keeping our citizens safe and secure, defending our sovereignty, and ensuring that Canada can return to the international stage as a credible and influential country, ready to do its part.”
It was ambitious rhetoric, and politically suited to the times. In 2008, Canada was at war. Though there was continuing controversy about the Afghan mission in the Commons, Canadians were deeply engaged. The newspapers were filled with stories of soldiers returning safely home, and of those who didn’t. The government rarely missed an opportunity to praise our men and women in uniform.
At last, in 2008, Canadian soldiers in Kandahar seemed well equipped for their jobs. That was the era, not coincidentally, during which Ottawa’s defence spending as a percentage of gross domestic product was climbing rapidly, from 1.29 in January 2008 to 1.46 in 2009 and 1.45 in 2010. This was still well off the North Atlantic Treaty Organization target of two per cent, but it was light years ahead of the paltry 1.16 per cent the Liberals had spent in 2002.
But then, beginning in 2010, a series of light bulbs went off in the Langevin Block that houses the Prime Minister’s Office.
First, it was realized that the Afghan government under then- president Hamid Karzai would never be a reliable ally, and that consequently much of the money being spent on institution- building was being frittered away. Second, as it began to grapple with political blowback from its sole- source F- 35 fighter jet purchase, the Harper government began to perceive what every Canadian administration since the Trudeau years has understood: In Canada, you can beggar the military and pay no political price. By late 2012, the new jets had become an impossible liability, and they were shelved.
Which is why now, nearly two years on and with another war in the offing, there is still no replacement pending of Canada’s Boeing F- 18 Hornets, the first of which flew in 1982 and the last of which will be flying until 2025. There are 79 of the planes still operational: Many of the original 138 are now in storage or used for parts to keep the others serviceable.
Last spring, Canada deployed a half- dozen F- 18s to eastern Europe, in a NATO reassurance mission aimed at deterring Russian aggression. Now another half- dozen are being readied to join the air war over Iraq, and possibly Syria. Best not to consider where that leaves the Royal Canadian Air Force’s capacity to fulfil what was, after 9/ 11, considered its most important task — that of providing over- flight protection for major Canadian cities.
More than 600 Canadian Forces personnel, the six fighters, their ammunition, two Aurora observation planes and a refuelling aircraft will soon be deployed to Kuwait to join the aerial bombardment of Islamic State, the government said Tuesday, confirming an earlier report by Postmedia News’s Matthew Fisher.
This means, in effect, that Canada will build a new base, perhaps within an existing allied base, as occurred in Afghanistan and in the United Arab Emirates years ago. It means an aerial supply line will wend its way to Kuwait, likely from CFB Trenton in Ontario, via Germany, made up of Boeing C- 17s, Airbuses and, in- theatre, Hercules C- 130s. Those serving in Kuwait will need vehicles, transport trucks, portable shelters or sea containers, and all the other myriad gear required to keep people fed, fit and combat- ready in a desert war.
Yet unlike in the early years of the Afghan conflict, when military spending was rising steadily each year from 2002 on, the defence budget in the past four years has dropped — to the point where spending as a ratio to GDP may actually be hovering at or just below one per cent, which is Liberal Decade of Darkness territory, to repeat former chief of defence staff Rick Hillier’s famous expression.
In the 2014 budget, the Defence Department was shorn of $ 3 billion that had been earmarked for imminent procurements. In addition to the stalled jets, the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy is mired in delays, a plan to buy high- flying spy drones has gone nowhere, and fixed- wing search and rescue aircraft have been in limbo for a decade.
The government is to issue its fall fiscal update at the end of this month. There has been speculation that, because the budget is de facto in balance now, it will include tax cuts — the beginning of the bonanza that is to bring middle- Canadians back into the Tory fold just in time for next fall’s federal election.
Forgoing any of that, or slowing the pace of deficit and debt reduction, in favour of renewed spending on our men and women in uniform is not something any member of the Conservative caucus will want to consider. One wonders how long they can keep that up, while at the same time sending the CF back to war for an undetermined length of time.