Think about it:
…
Does this portend the vigourous, burden-sharing foreign and defence policy that the prime minister has talked about? Or is it a public relations plan to distract attention from major cuts to expenditure on new ships, planes, and army equipment ?..
A question well worth asking. On verra, verily.
Nahhh! Don’t you worry ’bout cuts to the military. Just so that don’t happen Ol’ Steve’s gonna dump/slash a whole bunch of useless ministries and agencies: culture, official languages, status of women, CBC, indian affairs,etc.
We’ll end up with an aircraft carrier on each coast and the NATO HQ in Bay Roberts!
I suspect our military will be with better kit 9 years into Harper’s run than they were 9 years into Trudeau’s…relatively speaking..
..from the article..
“Most English-speaking Canadians endorsed Trudeau’s vision of Canada while French Canadians embraced a separate identity, becoming Québécois.”
Oh really?
The article is interesting, as is usually the case with that writer.
Does PMSH really think that a bloated NDHQ bureaucracy is a good
idea? Perhaps yes, perhaps no, but his first constituency is and
has been the civil service Mandarins. They have provided him with the
foundation of his success.
Which is a fact of which the media should take notice.
Defense spending will have a larger share of the federal budget going forward. What size the federal budget will be going forward is a good question – likely excluding entitlements it will be significantly lower.
As for the naming – it is both a PR exercise and a demonstration of the commitment to the military that it will play a more prominent role in Canada’s society and foreign policy than it has for many decades.
Regarding the top-heavy staff issue: keep in mind that this was exactly what was a very contentious issue in the us military after ww1. Several attempts to prune back the brass were resisted and when The buildup to ww2 began the wisdom of having lots of brass became clear – the ratio of brass to frontline troops plummeted to a number very close to the acceptable number for a military at war.
Like fighter pilots – high end brass represent millions of dollars of investment – to decommission them to get to a number inline with peacetime sensibilities may be a huge mistake.
Sharper is the first conservative PM to “get it” we’ve ever had. Prepare for some big changes.
Why would the military be any more exempt from bureaucratic bloat than any other entity?
This is good politics; go after the fat in the military before the parasites in the CBC.
As Gord Tulk alludes to, what is the % trend line of GDP spent on the military….it got down to ½ %, is now about 1% and should be double that, including nation-building (for lack of a better word in our residual job in Afghanistan).
A conservative government should aim for about 33% share of GDP that is a maximum amount of wealth or oxygen that all levels of government (now about 40%) are permitted to suck out of the real economy. Government consumption of wealth is killing job creation.
I was employed at NDHQ on two postings during my military career. Both were a complete waste of my and the queen’s time. I did very little of anything and nothing that I did do contributed anything to the operational capabilities of the armed forces. I am sure that most of the junior officers who are there would say exactly the same thing.
I think a big part of this is because NDHQ is not a military headquaters it is a federal government ministry headquarters. Its about running the department of national defence, not the armed forces. As an example of this, in one posting I worked in an office whose job it was to acquire new anti armour missiles for the field troops. We had already been told by our political masters what equipment we were to get because we had signed a joint development deal with Aerospatiale. Despite one government agency already telling us what we were getting we spent years trying to justify to other government agencies why we were getting what we were. And one of the people in our office was the agent from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to make sure that the money was all spread around nicely. There was also a full time translater to make sure everything was nicely bilinual.
When I was a young trooper we would say how we needed it a good war to cut out all the crap and make us more efficient. A friend who is still in reminded me of this the other day and told me that despite ten years of war, if anything there is even more crap than there was in the past.
I could go on, but a lot of the efficiency of the armed forces is how you spend the money, not how much you spend.
cut the bloat, put the saved money into the pointy end of the stick.
PMSH has done a pretty fine job so far. C17’s, Jercs, M777’s, Leo 2’s, New Chinooks, new truck fleet coming, new national shipbuilding plan coming next month, CF 18 replacement deal, new UAV fleet, new uniforms, new IFV’s coming . . . it is a long list.
Turdoh must be spinning in his grave in disgust.
We sure as hell better hope we have an aircraft carrier on the East and West Coasts Jamie. “Ol’ Steve” will take care of what’s important for the safety and security of this country.
Next on the hit parade to gut the socialist stamp on Canada is change the flag back or at least get some blue in it so it looks manly. Also change Canada Day back to Dominion Day.
I love the sound of libtards screaming in despairer.
As we head into a ten year depression the role of the Canadian military will become more important. Not just for internal security but also the traditional role of defending our interests abroad and of course our borders. World economic crisis will led to a potential influx of massive proportions. This country cannot deal with this risk currently, unless attitudes change.
Good debate on both sides, Trudeau & Diefenbaker both share responsibility for the state of our Armed Forces. Both had their reasoning behind it, ‘a good idea at the time’ and we all know hindsight is 20/20. However life is not perfect and history loves to state that. I do look forward to seeing positive changes for our nation and it’s service branches RCAF, RCN & CA. I would love to see conscription return to the table, (Put down the pitchforks & torches you Liberals & NDP folk). Europe’s track record of manditory service (with exeption of disability), has given it’s youth some good work ethic, training & disipline. Is it perfect, no…..nothing is. Do I want our youth to be thrown into battle at a drop of a hat, Heck no! However do I want them prepared, trained and have a sense of pride, you bet!
In a perfect system, we would all be proud of eachother, our country and ALL spending would be justified. But hey, in a perfect world, we wouldn’t need any SERVICE PERSONEL/ PEACE OFFICERS/ CUSTOMS and I would be unemployed…ha,ha. Hopefully, the BRASS will be trimmed down and more effecient & expediant.
But I won’t hold my breathe.
feeling betrayed yet SDA?
you will.
Well said minuteman! I’ve spoken to many who spent time in NDHQ and they all said the same thing. They spent their time shuffling paper for the sake of shuffling paper trying to make their overlords look important.
feeling betrayed yet SDA?
you will.
Posted by: casualobserver at August 21, 2011 12:34 PM
Nawwwww. Not cynics like us…
History has proven that despite all the “Support the Troops” bluster, Conservative governments inevitably wreck the military. Diefenbaker and Mulroney anyone?
Well what do you know. Maybe an aircraft carrier in waiting sitting right in NDHQ. Just waiting for an axe to cut it free.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/08/21/slash-civilian-staff-at-defence-hq-report/
Did that article have a point? Does Mark, ever?
Draft every civilian in HQ, hand them each a C1 and rotate them all through Afghanistan for a while. Then they go back to their HQ job.
Give them a one week warning. Over-staffing of HQ will no longer be a problem.
Say, we all know a civilian that works for HQ! S’tat choo, Lucy?
Waterhouse: Talk, talk? Walk, walk?
Mark
Ottawa
Mark…best to ignore the tragically tepid.
Are you trying to say that Harper isn’t walking the walk, Mark? Then do so. Your cryptic style isn’t half as clever or amusing as you think it is.
Anyway, C-17s, Hercs, Leo 2s, F-35s, etc., up against some idiot’s disjointed ramblings about nothing. Yeah, walking the walk. Oh well. I’m sure you had thought you had a point. Perhaps your pal Dr. Dumbass was super-impressed, or something.