1 billion $ spending cuts proposed for Canadian army

[crazy canuck]

Canada joins New Zealand and Belgium and defends itself by relying on a big friendly well armed neighbor.

That's pretty much been the case for the last 60 years.

The big cuts happened during the Trudeau governments.  I know you are young but that wasnt 60 years ago.

[Grey Fox]

Defends us from what? The Chinese love us.

[Valmy]

Canada spends a little over $21 billion dollars per year on defence.

That's it?  Woah.

[Barrister]

Canada spends a little over $21 billion dollars per year on defence.

That's it?  Woah.

Yup.

If you want the nitty gritty details, here it is right from Treasury Board:

http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/est-pre/20112012/me-bpd/docs/me-bpd-eng.pdf

Skip to page 243 for DND.

Thats out of a total governmental expenditures of 261 billion.

Remember our economy and population is only one tenth that of the US, and that nobody (and I mean nobody) spends as much per capita on defence as the US does.

[Grey Fox]

Canada spends a little over $21 billion dollars per year on defence.

That's it?  Woah.

It's 1.5% of the GDP. You guys spend 5%. Getting up to 5% would still just be 70 b$, still no where near what the USA spends.

[viper37]

Assuming that some proper warming of the Arctic will go down during the next couple of decades, isn't this a pretty stupid move? Canada could get insane profits from new resources and the NW Passage opening, but Russia will be all over them if they don't have a decent army.

the proposed cuts are for bureaucrats and reservists.  Instead of a full time reserve force, they plan on slacking most of those (4500 people) or offering them a full time job as a member of the Canadian Army.
For civilians, well, since Afghanistan, the number of civilians has increased by 20 000 in the Department of National Defence.  Logically, we don't need that many people once the war is over (for us, anyway).
Aside that, the proposal is to reduce the reliance on private contractors, slash the budget by 10% for these.

This way, we'd have a lean, mean machine

It's similar to any government cuts fiscal conservatives, such as the Conservative party, in theory.
The proposed cuts for the national television are in the same order, yet, I can't imagine the Conservative party not defending their cuts...

[viper37]

And Viper - no it won't be the Royal Canadian Army.  That was never its name.  However we will continue to have the Royal 22e Regiment...

And Princess Patricia, too.  I don't mind the name of a regiment.  I do mind the name for the entire army corps.

But about the cuts: yea or nay?

[Barrister]

And Viper - no it won't be the Royal Canadian Army.  That was never its name.  However we will continue to have the Royal 22e Regiment...

And Princess Patricia, too.  I don't mind the name of a regiment.  I do mind the name for the entire army corps.

But about the cuts: yea or nay?

What the hell is the difference between "Royal" being in a unit name, and being in the name of the Army/Navy?

As for the cuts... well cuts need to be made.  We're in better shape than most, but we're still running a very large defficit.  I'm sure there's some room to trim in the armed forces.

[viper37]

What the hell is the difference between "Royal" being in a unit name, and being in the name of the Army/Navy?

Because most people don't see the Royal 22e Régiment, they see the Canadian army.  Be it Canadians or foreigners.

[Viking]

Canada joins New Zealand and Belgium and defends itself by relying on a big friendly well armed neighbor.

Canada spends a little over $21 billion dollars per year on defence.  With our heavy Afghanistan commitments, this has gone up quite a bit over the last several years.  A cut of one billion dollars is hardly going to destroy the Canadian Forces.

And Viper - no it won't be the Royal Canadian Army.  That was never its name.  However we will continue to have the Royal 22e Regiment...

There will never be a Royal Canadian Army, not traditionalist would ever suggest such a travesty for the simple reason that the Army did this



to a King and has never really been forgiven for that.

[Neil]

I can assure you that the Canadian Army has never killed a monarch.

[Viking]

I can assure you that the Canadian Army has never killed a monarch.

Here's a diagram for you.

Code Select Expand



                           Oliver's Army
                                |
                                |
         -------------------------------------------------------
         |                                                     |
     Brit Army                                            Canuck Army       




[crazy canuck]

Marti, did you just hack Viking's account?

[Sahib]

Euros and crypto-Euros: free riders.

It's perfectly logical. It's not as you guys will suddenly stop feeding the military-industrial complex with gazillions of dollars.
Suckers. 

[Viking]

Marti, did you just hack Viking's account?

Eh?