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Hopes bleak for increase in DND cash
Academics say minister told them: Hard to get money for 'toys for boys'
Mike Trickey
The Ottawa Citizen
Friday, August 02, 2002
Despite near-unanimous support for an increase in military spending, Defence Minister John McCallum is indicating there will be no new money for Canada's Armed Forces.
In a letter sent to a number of military and strategic studies organizations, Mr. McCallum said he is interested in meeting them later this month to hear their views on how to "redirect resources from what is no longer essential to capabilities that will be needed today or in the future."
Military analysts say this is a clear signal the government has no intention of providing even the minimum extra funding that Commons and Senate committee reports earlier this year said was necessary to maintain the Forces' current level of operations, let alone money for new equipment and additional personnel.
Military historian Jack Granatstein attended Mr. McCallum's session with academics earlier this week and said he was left with the impression that the minister is undertaking a policy update now in the hopes of making the budget planning cycle in November. If he were to take on the lengthier and long-promised full defence policy review, there would likely be no chance of new money in the next budget.
Some critics have already dismissed the idea of a defence policy review in the absence of additional spending.
Mr. Granatstein says Mr. McCallum indicated Finance Minister John Manley was sympathetic to the crisis facing the Canadian Forces, but he didn't know whether anybody else in cabinet held that view.
"He also said it was easier to get money for quality of life and personal equipment than it was to get, as he put it, toys for the boys."
Richard Evraire, chair of the Conference of Defence Associations, says that remark is telling.
"We don't believe Canada is doing its share in security and defence matters," he said. "We're letting our allies take the brunt of expenses even while our own economy, according to the government, is in great shape. We are spending less than half the NATO average in terms of per-capita dollars. This is unacceptable for a G8 country hoping to be a viable member of the NATO alliance and other coalitions."
David Pratt, chair of the Commons defence committee, says the phrasing of Mr. McCallum's letter does not necessarily mean the government is planning to freeze military spending.
"A lot of people are reading different things into stuff these days, but my own conversations with the minister indicate he wants to get more resources for the Canadian Forces," Mr. Pratt says.
His committee earlier this year called for a dramatic increase in funding for the military.
"It's crystal-clear that the Forces need, at the very least, just to keep doing the things they're doing right now, a billion-dollar increase to the base budget (of $12 billion). Then we can talk about the sorts of things we need to do to bring our military up to the point where Canada is making a proportionate contribution to allied security."
Don Macnamara, a senior fellow at Queen's University's international studies centre in Kingston, says Mr. McCallum's letter makes it pretty clear the government is more interested in continuing a longstanding policy of spending as little as it can get away with on defence without seriously annoying Canada's military allies.
"The Canadian Forces are, in effect, like someone being used as indentured labour," Mr. Macnamara says. "After you have worked this person, underfed him and haven't bothered to replace his clothing, there comes a time when he simply can't physically carry on. His production has been good up to that point, but suddenly you realize the guy is sick, he's emaciated and his shoes are in tatters."
Mr. McCallum visited Canadian troops in Afghanistan and the Arabian Gulf region last month and came away impressed with the job they were doing and, he said, a new understanding of the extent of the problems the Forces are facing.
"We're going to have to make choices," said Mr. McCallum. "The one thing that is not an option is to stretch our soldiers to the breaking point. So either we do less or we put more resources in."
"We're in the process of doing our update and I'll be presenting various options to cabinet. We'll have to see. I don't know yet what the outcome will be."
Academics say minister told them: Hard to get money for 'toys for boys'
Mike Trickey
The Ottawa Citizen
Friday, August 02, 2002
Despite near-unanimous support for an increase in military spending, Defence Minister John McCallum is indicating there will be no new money for Canada's Armed Forces.
In a letter sent to a number of military and strategic studies organizations, Mr. McCallum said he is interested in meeting them later this month to hear their views on how to "redirect resources from what is no longer essential to capabilities that will be needed today or in the future."
Military analysts say this is a clear signal the government has no intention of providing even the minimum extra funding that Commons and Senate committee reports earlier this year said was necessary to maintain the Forces' current level of operations, let alone money for new equipment and additional personnel.
Military historian Jack Granatstein attended Mr. McCallum's session with academics earlier this week and said he was left with the impression that the minister is undertaking a policy update now in the hopes of making the budget planning cycle in November. If he were to take on the lengthier and long-promised full defence policy review, there would likely be no chance of new money in the next budget.
Some critics have already dismissed the idea of a defence policy review in the absence of additional spending.
Mr. Granatstein says Mr. McCallum indicated Finance Minister John Manley was sympathetic to the crisis facing the Canadian Forces, but he didn't know whether anybody else in cabinet held that view.
"He also said it was easier to get money for quality of life and personal equipment than it was to get, as he put it, toys for the boys."
Richard Evraire, chair of the Conference of Defence Associations, says that remark is telling.
"We don't believe Canada is doing its share in security and defence matters," he said. "We're letting our allies take the brunt of expenses even while our own economy, according to the government, is in great shape. We are spending less than half the NATO average in terms of per-capita dollars. This is unacceptable for a G8 country hoping to be a viable member of the NATO alliance and other coalitions."
David Pratt, chair of the Commons defence committee, says the phrasing of Mr. McCallum's letter does not necessarily mean the government is planning to freeze military spending.
"A lot of people are reading different things into stuff these days, but my own conversations with the minister indicate he wants to get more resources for the Canadian Forces," Mr. Pratt says.
His committee earlier this year called for a dramatic increase in funding for the military.
"It's crystal-clear that the Forces need, at the very least, just to keep doing the things they're doing right now, a billion-dollar increase to the base budget (of $12 billion). Then we can talk about the sorts of things we need to do to bring our military up to the point where Canada is making a proportionate contribution to allied security."
Don Macnamara, a senior fellow at Queen's University's international studies centre in Kingston, says Mr. McCallum's letter makes it pretty clear the government is more interested in continuing a longstanding policy of spending as little as it can get away with on defence without seriously annoying Canada's military allies.
"The Canadian Forces are, in effect, like someone being used as indentured labour," Mr. Macnamara says. "After you have worked this person, underfed him and haven't bothered to replace his clothing, there comes a time when he simply can't physically carry on. His production has been good up to that point, but suddenly you realize the guy is sick, he's emaciated and his shoes are in tatters."
Mr. McCallum visited Canadian troops in Afghanistan and the Arabian Gulf region last month and came away impressed with the job they were doing and, he said, a new understanding of the extent of the problems the Forces are facing.
"We're going to have to make choices," said Mr. McCallum. "The one thing that is not an option is to stretch our soldiers to the breaking point. So either we do less or we put more resources in."
"We're in the process of doing our update and I'll be presenting various options to cabinet. We'll have to see. I don't know yet what the outcome will be."
