Osprey Media - The Sudbury Star - Print Version

Rebuilding the military

Our Opinion

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 11:00

Editorial - In 2002, a Senate committee recommended Canada wrap up its UN and NATO operations abroad within six months and halt all overseas missions for two years while the federal government undertook the rebuilding the Canadian Forces. The committee’s rationale was simple: Decades of chronic underfunding, lack of direction and outdated equipment had reduced the Armed Forces’ effectiveness. Rather than continue to stretch our military beyond its limits, it was time to rebuild it into a formidable force with a mission.

Four years later, the state of Canada’s Armed Forces is again an issue. Every political party accepts Canada’s military as an essential instrument of both Canada’s national identity and foreign policy. It’s also true that Canadian personnel have acquitted themselves brilliantly over the years under difficult conditions made worse by inadequate government support.

And so, breathing new life into the Armed Forces its people, technology, equipment and even mandate is no longer an option, it’s an imperative. All that’s left is to determine how.

The Liberals promise to build on the 3-D model of defence, diplomacy and development unveiled in the February budget and April’s international policy statement. It promises $13 billion over five years for the Canadian Forces to buy new helicopters, planes and other equipment. Foreign aid goes up $3.4 billion over five years, focused on disease eradication in Africa and intervening in major world crises.

The Conservatives have pledged $5.3 billion over five years to help buy large, heavy-lift aircraft such as the C-17, $2 billion over eight years to build a military base to protect the Arctic and new bases in the Maritimes.

The Conservatives would also double the 200-member Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) that was so effective in helping earthquake-stricken Pakistan.It would also revive a 650-member Airborne Regiment, disbanded in the 1990s after some of its members discredited it.

The NDP promises to improve the welfare of military personnel around the world, but is short of specifics and costs. Its main focus is to boost foreign aid by adding more to the $500-million increase it wrestled from the Liberals in the last federal minority budget.

The NDP also wants to increase foreign-aid spending to 0.7 per cent of GDP, from the current 0.3 per cent. It also calls for more federal spending to target the eradication of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The Liberals and Conservatives take a similarly balanced approach to boosting military capability at home and abroad. The key difference is the Conservative plan leans heavily toward buying billions of dollars worth of cargo planes, while the Liberals vow to spend more on foreign aid. That’s where the Liberal plan rises to the top.

To be sure, the Liberal record on military spending has been spotty at best. The Liberals wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on helicopters and diesel submarines that have proven useless. Its plans for the future, however, are balanced and responsible and offer the most promise for building a Canadian Armed Forces that can again take on a leadership role in UN and NATO operations.
ID- 141310