 Retired generals take aim at Ottawa's handling of defence cuts Tension is growing between Canada's top generals and the government over deep cuts to the military and the government's plan for the future of the military, the Canada First Defence Strategy.Commentsview comments in forum You need to be a member of CKA and be logged into the site, to comment on news. |
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Still spending 3 billion a year on consultants and contractors. That's what should be getting the axe first before anything else.
2 of the guys I work with have been stationed on a CFB for nearly 8 years. They've done 2 tours in Afghanistan. They aren't military, but computer geeks.
Still spending 3 billion a year on consultants and contractors. That's what should be getting the axe first before anything else.
I agree, but the problem is that some of those consultants are nothing more than cooks or janitors, while others are staff from defence contractors we pay to maintain our shiny new planes and equipment.
Giant defence contractors also have lucrative professional services contracts, according to public accounts records.
The largest single amount paid out in 2011-12 was to U.S.-based Lockheed Martin, which took in $175.3 million for a single engineering contact.
The company best known in the political world as the builder of the F-35 stealth fighter had six other service and consulting deals with the Canadian government that year.
In total, the Defence Department paid $313.04 million to Lockheed Martin.
http://www.obj.ca/Local/Defence-and-sec ... up-$500M/1
I heard General Leslie last summer going on about how top-heavy DND was with contractors, consultants, hangers-on that there was little left for the "army" part of the army. The government may be right about the necessity of shovelling out a lot of the slush. Any big-buck bureaucracy is prone to become an aquarium full of expensive, exotic fish that eventually push out the guppies.
Most militaries consist primarily of REMFs - that's because it takes one hell of a lot of support for the tip of the spear.
Over the years I've observed that most of Canada's problem is usually too much tip and not spear.
Case in point was your guys needing to hitch rides when they deployed to the Sandbox. In that case you had plenty of tip and nothing behind them.
Consultants and civilians workers are being cut from many areas, 6 of the 9 civilian workers I work with are getting the ax in March.
Still not enough. There are thousand of civilians working for DND in Ottawa. Some are low paid drones, others are part of the well paid brain trust that bring us slush breakers and single engine fighter jets over the arctic.
Sigh. To be honest, it feels like we'll need a world war to get the military the proper funding and equipment it deserves. As much as we on this site are passionate about the military, the average Canadian couldn't care less, (and strangely, I find Quebec somewhat hostile towards it, but I put significant blame on that on the FLQ Crisis of 1970), and governments of any political stroke just sees it as a money sink, which gains them too few votes in elections compared to anything else.
I agree, your average Canadian really doesnt care about the military. So long as they get a warm and fuzzy when it gets sent to somewhere to help they are happy.
I agree, your average Canadian really doesnt care about the military. So long as they get a warm and fuzzy when it gets sent to somewhere to help they are happy.
"Who Killed the Canadian Military?" by J.L. Granatstein illustrates the downfall of the Canadian military rather well, if you're intrigued. He basically describes every Prime Minister after Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent as undercutting the military in one way or another.
I'll admit, I was more optimistic about Prime Minister Harper, but he's fallen in with Mulroney. Making a few big purchases...and then nothing.