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Defence Policy in the 2006 General Election

>Does anyone know where the conservitives plan on getting the extra funding from to support the military as they propose to do? Is it from taxes, or public programs?

Neither.  They're going to steal it from Liberal-friendly ad agencies.
 
Roll out the pork-barrel?

Conservatives promise more planes, troops for 8 Wing

It was a defence policy campaign platform tailor-made for 8-Wing/ CFB Trenton.

The purchase of strategic heavy lift aircraft, and the creation of a 650 strong airborne battalion all going to CFB Trenton, if the Conservatives are elected Jan. 23.

...

If elected, Norlock said Tuesdays defence policy announcement, would bring economic growth to Quinte West and the region.

...

Local Conservative MP Daryl Kramp told reporters Harpers announcement is nothing but great news for the Quinte region. These announcements mean a massive job creation, he said.

Along with this comes all the support staff ... so there will be an enormous spin-off to this, he said. Itll have a wonderful benefit not just to this area but to Canada as a whole.
 
The purchase of strategic heavy lift aircraft, and the creation of a 650 strong airborne battalion all going to CFB Trenton, if the Conservatives are elected Jan. 23.
That is a big infrastructure requirement. 
 
>And cheques you write with your mouth, usually bounce.

No kidding.  If I had a list of Liberal promises on the even-numbered pages of a book, and details of how the promises were fulfilled on the odd-numbered pages, I can't imagine needing to reproduce more than half the book if anyone else wanted a copy.  Based on past behaviour, nothing the Liberals say from the dropping of the writ to Voting Day should be believed.
 
who is it that is making some promise that won't even come into effect in this term, like it won't even start to develop till 2010, liberals I think
 
PUBLICATION: National Post
DATE: 2005.12.21
EDITION: National
SECTION: Editorials
PAGE: A16
SOURCE: National Post
WORD COUNT: 744
Time to rearm


Canadian nationalists will undoubtedly be outraged to learn that the American nuclear submarine USS Charlotte cruised under our Arctic ice cap last month. They have no one to blame but themselves. For 40 years now, the selfsame politicians and intellectuals who have demanded Canadian firewalls against American cultural and economic incursions have simultaneously urged the steady weakening of the Canadian military, the most crucial means by which a nation may assert and defend its sovereignty. Our Armed Forces even lack the necessary listening posts to hear what is going on under our polar seas, much less the planes and Arctic ground patrols that could turn back any unwelcome visitors.

If we are to be fully sovereign, we must dramatically expand and modernize our military along the lines proposed by Stephen Harper's Conservatives.

The critical element in the Conservatives' military platform, released last Tuesday near CFB Trenton, Ont., is not the extra $5.3-billion in defence spending it pledges over the next five years -- it is the clear vision it contains for Canada's Armed Forces and their role in the world. The extra money is essential, but defining a realistic set of missions for our Forces is more important still.

One of the first of these roles would be fulfilling our duty, along with our allies, in maintaining global security. But next should be beefing up our frontier defences to ensure no one -- not even those same allies -- can transverse our territory without our knowledge or permission. When the Prime Minister, Paul Martin, insists he will not be "dictated to," his words ring hollow since it has been Liberal governments that have done the most damage to our ability to project our territorial sovereignty.

The Tory plan would raise the overall defence budget from $14-billion this year to nearly $25-billion annually five years from now. The Liberals too have promised to increase the national defence budget, but have committed $3- to $5-billion less. The Conservatives' commitment is closer to the figure recommended by the Auditor General three years ago to ensure Canada's army, air force and navy remain capable of both peacekeeping and war missions around the world. This figure would also be more in keeping with the defence expenditures of other industrialized nations our size.

The Tories can probably also be trusted to keep their defence-spending promises. Over the past 10 years, the current government has pledged new search-and-rescue helicopters, mobile cannons, heavy cargo planes, amphibious assault ships and more, yet all have died procurement deaths in endless technical reviews and defence reform analyses.

What is best about the Conservative plan, though, is its pledge to re-establish an airborne unit and to redesign our military for the current range of threats around the world. Our last major defence re-think was begun when the Soviet Union -- not terrorism -- was seen as the biggest danger to world security. Disbanding the Airborne more than a decade ago was a mistake. Made in response to embarrassing hazing videos that came to light and the unit's brutal, racist actions in Somalia in the early 1990s, the decision left Canada without a rapid response unit capable of being dropped into a hot spot with a few days notice. Given the nature of modern military threats -- far-flung and quickly developing -- the elimination of the airborne left a huge gap in our military capability.

We need a rapid response unit that has better training than our regular army units, but that is not a full special-ops regiment, such as Joint Task Force 2. It must be fully self-sufficient, so it can be "wheels up" in 48 to 72 hours. Together, the Conservatives' promises of new equipment and manpower would make such a unit viable.

But we also need the capability to defend Canada's territory and territorial waters -- we need to increase our squadron of long-range patrol aircraft, build a small fleet of ice-breaking patrol vessels, raise and equip Arctic infantry patrols and, perhaps, even buy a submarine that can sail about under the ice and keep away sneaky foreign subs.

We need to take our national defence -- abroad and at home -- much more seriously. The Conservative plan goes further toward doing just that.


- http://server09.densan.ca/archivenews/051221/npt/051221c2.htm

(Edited by Moderator to post source at start of article.)
 
Ok, I thought it was about time this information was posted. Here are the links to the defence policy of each major party:

The Liberals
http://www.liberal.ca/issue_e.aspx?itype=62#dap

The Conservatives.... eeek they have to improve on this one.
http://www.conservative.ca/EN/2326/31916#

The NDP
http://www.ndp.ca/page/2463

:clown:The Green Party :clown:
http://www.greenparty.ca/foreign_policy.html~&MMN_position=135:128.html

The Marijuana Party of Canada
http://www.marijuanaparty.com/article.php3?id_article=198 (riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight  ::))

The communist party of canada
http://www.communist-party.ca/  (hit 'issues' and scroll down to 'analysis')
 
Thoughts on this?

Good news - No Goose Bay Battalion.

Bad news - some perenially chilled sailors and loggies.

Harper would boost Arctic military presenceThursday, December 22, 2005 Posted at 11:04 AM EST

Canadian Press and Globe and Mail Update

Winnipeg â ” Stephen Harper said Friday a Conservative government would spend $5.3-billion over five years to boost Canada's military presence in the Arctic, including enhanced underwater and aerial surveillance.

"The single most important duty of the federal government is to protect and defend our national sovereignty," Harper said at a morning campaign stop in Winnipeg.

"You don't defend national sovereignty with flags, cheap election rhetoric, and advertising campaigns," he said, according to a text of his speech posted on the Conservative party Web site. "You need forces on the ground, ships in the sea, and proper surveillance. And that will be the Conservative approach."

The Tories would establish a national sensor system for northern waters and build three heavy icebreakers capable of carrying troops, Mr. Harper said Thursday in Winnipeg.

Mr. Harper also promised to create a combined miltary-civilian deepwater docking facility in the Iqaluit region.

At least 500 sailors would operate the icebreakers and the docking station, said Harper, who estimated the total cost of the icebreakers and the docking facility at $2-billion over eight or nine years.

Mr. Harper's announcement in Winnipeg came after recent reports that at least one U.S. military submarine recently patrolled the Arctic and likely passed through Canadian waters.

Liberal Leader Paul Martin has said his government will do what is necessary to stop American submarines from entering Canadian waters.

Mr. Harper pledged today to do more than talk.

"As prime minister, I will make it clear to foreign governments â ” including the United States â ” that naval vessels traveling in Canadian territorial waters will require the consent of the government of Canada," said Mr. Harper.

"Only a new Conservative government can provide real action on sovereignty, not just words," he said, according to the prepared text.

The Conservative plan, according to the party website, includes these elements:

Station three new armed naval heavy icebreakers, to be made in Canada, in the area of Iqaluit, which will include 500 regular force personnel for crews and support and will be capable of carrying troops.
Build a new military/civilian deep-water docking facility in the Iqaluit area.
Establish a new Arctic National Sensor System for northern waters, which will include underwater surveillance technologies such as listening posts to monitor foreign submarines and ships.
Build a new Arctic army training centre in the area of Cambridge Bay on the Northwest Passage, staffed by an estimated 100 regular force personnel.
Station new fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft in Yellowknife.
Provide eastern and western Arctic air surveillance by stationing new long-range uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) squadrons at CFB Goose Bay and CFB Comox to provide continuous Arctic and ocean surveillance and patrol
Revitalize the Canadian Rangers by recruiting up to 500 additional Rangers and increasing their level of training, activity, and equipment.
Provide an army emergency response capability for the Arctic through the new airborne battalion and airlift capacity stationed at CFB Trenton.

Mr. Martin was spreading the Liberal message on Thursday with interviews in Ottawa ahead of the holidays.

He was then to attend a reception in neighbouring Gatineau, Que.

New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton travelled to Edmonton, hoping to persuade voters in the Alberta capital to opt for the NDP.

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe was to speak to the Canadian Auto Workers near Montreal before giving interviews to TV networks in Quebec
 
Its the good ole "step up or shut up" ref soveriegnty.

The Conservatives are stepping up by making sure we have a military presence throught Canada, not just in the south.

Posting to Iquliut, anyone?

I don't like the idea of G O'Connor becoming MND though...esp after his JTF2 comments.
 
It's about time the subject of Arctic Sovereignity came up.  It has been a subject that I think has been overlooked far too long by both DND and the political parties.  I like the idea of buying three icebreakers.  I'm not certain that the fulltime basing of them in Iqaluit would actually fly, though.  The expense in putting say, 500 families, up North would be horrific.  Not to mention just how hard it would be to develop a dockyard infrastructure to support ships and do routine maintenance at -40C.  On the other hand, the locals could see a lot in the way of jobs and skills development out of it.

Bottom line- this is the start of a useful and long overdue debate on what role we need to play in the Arctic, I hope.

Looks like the Conservatives drive the agenda again today.  Are the Liberals asleep, or just saving everything up for a a post-Christmas orgy of "Look-how-scary-Harper-and-his-hidden-agenda-are-we-are-the-saviors-of-Canada-so-vote-for-us" speeches?

Cheers
 
are there 500 sailors laying around doing nothing right now?  Or will this also have to be recruit driven.
 
are there 500 sailors laying around doing nothing right now?  Or will this also have to be recruit driven.

Build the ships and they will come... I have no fear of that.

The point, I think, is that we should do the jobs that need doing, not just the ones we currently have the the bodies to do. 
 
CFL said:
are there 500 sailors laying around doing nothing right now?   Or will this also have to be recruit driven.

no more then there are 700 soldiers to fill JATF, or another 500 to fill the Airborne unit he wants to make.
 
i agree 100%, but that article sounds like it was written by a conservative party speech-writer crony...
 
agreed on both counts but as mentioned before, without the troops all the saber rattling in the world won't change things, and until the recruit process is revamped and sped up there won't be the troops to fill these new roles.
 
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