Canada's Conservatives vow to boost defense budget

[ShockediSay]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-16T232531Z_01_N16240965_RTRUKOC_0_US-POLITICS.xml

By Randall Palmer
SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick (Reuters) - The man likely to be elected the new
Canadian prime minister in a week's time, Conservative leader Stephen Harper,
said on Monday he wants to boost defense spending enough for the world to
take notice.

"I've made no secret of our desire to rebuild the Canadian military to have
the capacities of a sovereign nation," Harper told supporters on a campaign
swing through Atlantic Canada. "To make foreign policy decisions that are not
only independent but are actually noticed by other powers around the world."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What is it with the Right Wingers and their boosting the defense budget?
Could it be the Duke Cunningham Contractor Scam Syndrome, pay to play, where defense
contractors pay the conservatives to rip off the nation's treasury for all
kinds of overpriced, elaborate if not dysfunctional weaponry and support
systems? While the conservatives and their friends get all kinds of neat
rides and pop off some shots? Kind of reminds me of "The Arms of Krupp."

Probably be a lot less expensive if they kept their gaming in shoot'em up arcades; less expensive
and better for the vast majority of people involved.

[CatholicEdHead]

1. They have fetishes for things that go boom

[hopeisaplace]

4. Isn't that the truth

...I really don't think the average person knows what they are
getting in for by voting in Conservative Government. I think
in the Toronto area alone, 5800 daycare spaces will be lost
immediately after they are elected...funding will be halted for
it...(heard it on the news today)...and money allocated for low
income housing for the Toronto Area will be scrapped as well...
..and I'm sure the list goes on and on...*sigh*

[Posteritatis]

15. All the parties have been talking boosted defense spending actually

The military is in wretched shape lately, except for the blue-water surface Navy and some of the infantry units; I'd be hard pressed to argue against money for up-to-date equipment, or at least better pay and housing for the troops.

More to the point, the Canadian military's been reorganizing itself in a peacekeeping/humanitarian role rather than a battlefield one since the 1960s, and that really shows with the Forces today. Canadian troops are expected more to take part in nation-building, peacekeeping, and disaster relief than actual direct warfare, Afghanistan and Gulf 1991 notwithstanding. The problem is, they're terribly overextended; a lot of the units are exhausted from so much time spent abroad. The options are increasingly looking like a choice between burning out the troops on extended deployments, or simply pulling out of the peacekeeping business for awhile. Neither of these options are much good, so there's been pressure from both the military and the electorate for money to expand the Forces by several thousand personnel, so that we can keep up our current rate of deployments while keeping the soldiers on them in good shape.

As well, the military's got next to nothing in terms of the ability to actually send them around; instead, they're forced to charter assistance from other countries to do so. This causes problems when the military needs to be deployed to a trouble spot, but certain transportation-providing powers, possibly the United States, refuse to support said deployment. This one's a national-pride thing first and foremost - "we should be able to move our men around on our own, dammit!" - but there's also real reasons to see some cash for better transportation. The Navy in particular's been bouncing around ideas for a ship for these purposes - think something along the lines of the US Marines' troopships, only considerably smaller and meant to operate more as a command centre and hospital than a surface combatant. I wouldn't mind our being able to park one of those off a disaster area.

Of course, on top of it all it simply can't hurt for a nation's military to be well-equipped to fight Just In Case, but that's a secondary or tertiary concern for the Canadian military, especially since it's designed mainly to fight as light infantry these days, as opposed to the heavier formations the US military uses. It's not likely to become necessary, but preparations for a military this small are comparatively cheap, and effectiveness is effectiveness.

Thing is, all of this is already being implemented. The Liberals put through something like a six billion dollar budget increase for the military (from $12B to $18B, for context), which was starting to see this money since sometime last year for both appropriations and simply improving living conditions for people in the Forces.

A defense hike was a really good idea. But it isn't anything new, and the Conservatives certainly aren't being creative in bringing it to the table.

[AlamoDemoc]

21. I've also noticed that even the CBC

known as somewhat a balanced broadcasting is now giving more air time to Harper than Mr. Martin...you can tell the Canucks are up to something on this election

[MrPrax]

25. More for self-interest sake...

The Tories hate the CBC and depending on how big their mandate is, will either get rid of it, sell it (esp. the hockey and Oly rights) or simply pass it's facilities to the provinces for their 'knowledge/distant educational' networks...

I don't if it will work...the Tories OWE big to CanadaWest/Global and the stated wet dream of CanWest (especially pronounced by the late Izzy Asper) is to acquire some of it's assets.

(I assume the 'shortages' in the Tory budget that Harper is less than candid about is simply because they plan to SELL certain government assets that will make up the 'shortfall')

[daleo]

2. He doesn't care about soveriegnty

He wants to be invited to the Bush "ranch" and be allowed to play cowboys.

[Submariner]

3. Bring those Mounties on! I'm ready for battle

[AX10]

5. We will see within a weeks time how smart Canadians really are.

[hopeisaplace]

8. it looks like the cons will win...people want "change"

...why I don't know...(media did a good job on the lib scandals -
the media has very little coverage on what's actually in Harper's Platform,
and the affect it will have on people and Canada *sigh again*...
Heard one little blurb on the news that went like this (not a direct quote -
Conservatives say their Platform/budget reviewed and approved by the Conference
Board of Canada - then they added a brief blurb something like this -
'but the Conference Board of Canada has indicated that the copy they reviewed is
a different copy that the one that the Cons went public with')...hmmmmmm what's this??
..............watch our surplus vanish under the cons.

[AX10]

9. The Canadian media is just as bad as the US media.

[Harper_is_Bush]

16. WRITE SOME LETTERS TO OUR EDITORS PLEASE

tell them what a Bush clone Stephen Harper is and how awful it is under the chimp.

[applegrove]

6. Harper is hinting at what he will do. When he ignores "governance"

as a canadian value and lists "integrity, family, respect for work, achievement, and commitment to a strong and free Canada" and leaves out good governance and health - nobody can accuse him of lying.

If he wins a majority.. over 5 people, he will institute this new system immediatly - just as Mike Harris did in Ontario in 1995. If Harper wins a minority - then he will govern as he is mostly running - as a liberal until he can call an election and try for that majority.

Nothing in his "values" about social programs or not giving in to the USA at every turn. So we cannot say he tricked his way in.

I wish people would look at the underlying message.

[Kelvin Mace]

7. Boost their defense budget

Defense from who? A horny moose?

[hopeisaplace]

10. rotlmao! ok, that's what I was trying to say..thanks :)

[1620rock]

12. No, from the USA.

[AnneD]

24. When I first read the headlines....

I thought that maybe they were worried about the US, but you are right- horny moose do present a greater threat.

[FloridaPat]

11. Are they afraid we're going to invade? Or maybe it's to secure the

border against panicy Americans trying to get out of the USA.

[sasquatch]

13. That isn't a bad idea with El Cokehead Loco to the south of them

He might just see all that snow and think it's cocaine.

[Matariki]

14. well then, Canada can say goodbye to their public healthcare

and decent education system, while their taxes all go to corporate military contractors.

[Minstrel Boy]

17. Here's what to expect from a Harper government:

Brownsey says Harper has professed the belief that the federal government should be focused almost exclusively on a core set of national tasks - like criminal law, contract law and the military - and leave much of the other responsibilities to the provinces.

"If Stephen Harper is anything, he's an ideologue," he said. "He's held these views for most of his adult life. He won't change now."

While the Conservatives have dismissed Brownsey's claims as worn-out scare tactics, the professor warned that Canadians could see Harper's Conservatives shut down national bodies like the CBC, the CRTC and the National Research Council and decentralize other programs. He said it's also likely the end of federal environmental regulations and the end of efforts to implement the Kyoto accord on greenhouse gas emissions.

"It's really quite fascinating what they would do," he said. "I don't think people have quite grasped the dismantling of Canada that will occur."

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Election/2006/01/08/1384299-sun.html

[HuffleClaw]

20. he's right.

harper is the scariest thing to happen to us since mulroney. and even mulroney never dreamed of going as far as harper does. he's a wannabe american neocon, plain and simple. our only hope is that the sane voices in his party don't go along with such crap. our conservatives aren't really as conservative as he thinks they are. i'm expecting a harper minority government at this point, one which will crash and burn in less than a year. a majority would be a horror. i can't see that happening.
how the media has been suddenly rooting for harper is scary too. it really is.

[hadrons]

18. Noam Chomsky mentioned why Bush wants Canada to increase military spending

Dumbya and the neo-cons want Canada to do the "peace-keeping" stuff while they go around "changing regimes" and every regime that changed, Canada would come in and keep the peace (on Canada's dime mind you)

[HuffleClaw]

19. "To make foreign policy decisions that are... ...noticed by other powers"

eep. that is truly scary. little napoleon? he was exposed as wanting to put troops in our cities for some reason. and what sort of 'foreign policy decisions' is he referring to? if elected he'll immediately jump on bush's bandwagon in an attempt to kiss up to his idol. i don't understand why people are falling for his line of crap.

[sarcasmo]

22. Welcome to our nightmare, Canada.

[killbotfactory]

23. The military industrial complex stuff is too sexy to resist!

I bet canadians just can't wait for their tax money to be siphoned off to useless pork barrel military projects.