“If you talk the talk, you must walk the walk.” But in Canada, our politicians have a history of shortchanging the military and claiming that defence spending is growing. President Trump tried to embarrass Justin Trudeau into spending 2 per cent of GDP to meet Canada’s commitment to NATO. It hasn’t happened. We must wonder if Canada can protect its sovereignty.
Last week while touring Eastern NATO countries bordering Russia and the Ukraine, he was again asked if Canada would be increasing its spending because of the Russia-Ukraine war that continues to threaten other NATO countries. He sloughed the question off. Many of his promises for spending will not occur until well into the mid 2030’s.
He is not the first Prime Minister to not answer the question. In Canada, we seem to have problems spending money to properly equip our forces. When our fleet of marine helicopters needed replacing, it took three different prime ministers to finally replace the aging fleet. In 1995, under Stephen Harper, the Canadian government began spending money on the development of replacement aircraft for the aging CF18’s. The life expectancy of the CF18’s has an expiry date of 2030. Tenders have gone out on more than one occasion to purchase new fighter jets.
In the meantime, Canada had to acquire 18 used Super Hornets from Australia. Since 1995 Canada has spent $.5 billion assisting in the development of the F35 stealth jet and continues to look for a replacement for the CF18.
It is expected that a final decision will be made this year on a company to deliver 88 new aircraft over the next decade. The bidders are Boeing supplying the Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin supplying the F35 and Saab with the Gripen E.
Our naval forces too are seeing the end of the life of our Halifax Class multi role frigates. Upgraded between 2014 and 2018, plans are now well underway to begin the replacement of those 12 ships with 15 new ships. The price of those new ships and the size of those ships have risen dramatically. Australia – which too is undergoing a rebuild of its navy – is also discovering that there is a major budget battle and there continues to be political battles on the expenditure. We can also expect to see such battles in Canada. For one year, none of Canada’s Victoria class submarines could be put to sea. Currently being modernized, Canada is hoping for 20 more years from the subs.
In replacing its submarine force, Australia is looking to save money by purchasing new French submarines. Substantial savings can be had, and similar savings can be brought about by purchasing ships from either Britain or the United States. Canada insists on building ships within country. It adds to the cost of new equipment for our forces. It also adds to the time to replace ships.
If businesses in Canada took 20 years to decide about modernization or acquiring a new piece of equipment or upgrading technology, they would be out of business in less than a decade. In Canada, governments of all parties are hesitant to spend the ask they agreed to when they became members of NATO. Now that the peace of the last 75 years appears broken, and the cold war restarted, Canada will re-examine it military spending.
Former Publisher
Fort Frances Times
