EYE ON DEFENCE
By David J. Bercuson
No boost for defence spending Finance Minister Bill Morneau (left) is joined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before delivering the 2017 budget speech.
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JULY/AUGUST 2017 > legionmagazine.com
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hen Finance Minister Bill Morneau delivered the Liberal government’s 2017-18 budget in March, the surprise to many observers (and incurable optimists) was that there was, fundamentally, nothing new for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. Despite some fuzzy hints from the defence minister and friendly meetings between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump that suggested a willingness of the government to increase defence readiness, there was nothing. In fact, there was less than nothing. The Trudeau government removed some $8.5 billion set aside to build defence capital equipment and infrastructure and shifted it from six to about 20 years down the road. The finance minister gave hints that his document may not be the last
word on the defence budget, given the defence review which was expected to be released on June 7. But clearly, any effort to raise the defence budget will await the fall budget update at the least, if not the next full budget for 2018-19. Canada has become one of NATO’s lowest contributors to defence spending, not only with respect to its NATO obligations, but also to North American defence spending and international expeditions to prevent war, such as significant UN missions. As of May, the government had still not selected a robust UN mission to join, although it announced last year that it would do so. Rather than complain that Canadian governments almost always disappoint the military and Canadian citizens who want an adequate military, I’m going to try to explain some hard realities about Canadian defence.
Adam Scotti/Office of the Prime Minister
2017-05-26 3:05 PM
