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Old Sweat said:Won't work. There is very little, verging on nil, support for increasing defence spending in the Canadian public. DND and the CAF are also on very shaky ground as they have shown very little capacity for sound fiscal and programme management, not to mention suffering from bureaucratic bloat and over-ranking. I suggest the embarrassing fiascos in major capital programs - F35, FWSAR, all sorts of vehicles and ship building - of a few years back did little to convince the PM that defence funding was being wisely spent.
And there is little to convince me that either of the other two major parties would be anymore sympathetic or likely to increase funding. From what I can gather, the priorities are: NDP - national childcare; and Liberals - infrastructure. Both are potential vote getters, which defence spending is not.
Old Sweat is spot on.
First: despite all the yellow ribbons and red t-shirts, Canadians' "support" for the troops, while a mile wide, is less than an inch deep. This is deeply rooted in our own and our British political heritage. Occasional bursts of jingoism do not constitute "faith" in the Canadian Forces ... and, in my opinion, that is a good tradition ... we ought to think beyond the easy solutions offered my the man on the white horse.
Second: see this; I am pretty sure it is as true today as it was when I wrote it.
DND, especially NDHQ, needs a thorough house cleaning - think Hercules and the Augean Stables. The place is too full of too much human detritus, most of it sitting in large, corner offices.