On Monday, the day of the total solar eclipse, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau donned a pair of blackout glasses. Not to stare at the sun, but to avoid seeing what is right in front of him: his abject failure to rebuild Canada’s armed forces.
“CAF – Canadian Armed Forces”
Canada needs more soldiers. Here’s how it plans to recruit them
OTTAWA — Canada aims to grow its military to 71,500 regular members over the next eight years by addressing long-standing recruitment and retention problems, according to an updated defence policy announced Monday.
The new strategy builds on several recently announced policies that softened the Canadian Armed Forces’ eligibility requirements, adding new funding for military housing, child care, and efforts to digitize services and increase the number of civilian specialists, although most of that funding will come more than five years down the line.
No mention of being so woke they’ve driven away their most reliable source of recruits.
Canada exploring possibility of joining AUKUS alliance, Trudeau says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is exploring the possibility of joining the second phase of AUKUS, a U.S.-led alliance with the United Kingdom and Australia.
The initial pillar of the alliance, forged in 2021, was focused on developing nuclear-powered submarines for Australia.
Trudeau says Canada will consider whether it needs to purchase nuclear-powered submarines to better ensure it can defend Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.
Bullshit, nothing but electioneering.
John Ivison: The new Liberal defence policy’s in no hurry to face dangerous global realities
For many years, there was no political payback for increasing defence expenditure, so governments in Ottawa didn’t bother.
But recent polls suggest voters are sufficiently spooked by events in Ukraine and the Middle East, not to mention by the prospect of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, to urge Ottawa to start taking defence seriously again.
Trudeau government announces billions more for the military — but still won’t meet NATO’s spending target
OTTAWA—Canada will raise military spending by more than $8 billion over the next five years under a revamped military strategy that still won’t hit NATO targets, but that the Trudeau government is pitching as a roadmap to ensure the military meets a “complex generational challenge.”
Entitled Our North, Strong and Free, the policy plan pledges to ramp up annual spending until the additional injection reaches about $1.9 billion in the fifth year, and commits $73 billion in new money over the next two decades to buy new gear and boost Canadian Forces recruitment to allow it to confront security challenges posed by climate change in the Arctic and more aggressive authoritarian regimes around the world.
Usual hot air. Climate Change! Climate Change! Climate Change! Transvestite Climate Change!
Gen. Wayne Eyre’s X account no longer allows comments after he faced criticism for ‘woke’ agenda
“We observed a concerning increase in malicious and misinformative engagements that proved detrimental to the Canadian Armed Forces’ ethics, values, and communication objectives,” said a DND spokesperson.
Public comments on the official social media account of Canada’s top soldier have been blocked by the military because of the nasty remarks being made about the general as well as government policies.
The move was made in January after Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre faced an increase in negative comments about his alleged poor leadership and his decision to bring in what some describe as the Liberal government’s “woke” agenda.
Trudeau’s Liberals are full of promises on everything except Canada’s highest priority: defence
The federal government has become strangely surreal. Each day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces new initiatives that are some combination of (a) unnecessary, (b) outside federal jurisdiction, and (c) unlikely to be realized before the next federal election.
Meanwhile, the government remains silent on the most pressing issue, and one for which it is 100 per cent responsible: shoring up Canada’s defences in a world growing more dangerous by the day.
Soldiers had to rely on food donations because of lack of military support during Ottawa training
Canadian Forces personnel sent to Ottawa for specialized cyber training had to rely on donated food to make ends meet because of the lack of support from the military and the high cost of living in the city.
In other cases, soldiers went months without being reimbursed by National Defence for their expenses, creating even more financial hardship, according to military personnel who approached this newspaper with their concerns.
The recruits were not initially eligible for any housing allowance while in Ottawa.
Military culture reform is key to fix recruitment ‘death spiral’: minister
Canada’s defence minister says steps taken last week to modernize the military justice system is part of an overhaul of military culture that is crucial to reversing the “death spiral” of shrinking recruitment.
“I very strongly believe cultural change is a process, not an event,” Bill Blair said in an interview on The West Block with Mercedes Stephenson. “And it really requires that we’re going to institutionalize that change.“
So, what expenditures should Canada cut to meet its NATO obligations?
A few weeks ago, when Donald Trump blathered on about letting Russia invade any NATO country not carrying its weight on military spending, he may have lacked a certain polish and decorum. Yet it’s hard to deny his logic.
A commitment is a commitment. And as most Canadians are becoming awkwardly aware, we are one of the worst laggards in the NATO club on this measure. For Canada to reach its NATO commitment of 2 per cent of GDP spent on the military it would require, roughly, $18-billion in addition to the $30-billion each year we spend on defence. (The figures are approximate and vary depending who you ask, and what you consider “military spending.”)
But how do we find an additional $18-billion? There’re not many sofa cushions to look under.
How could the author miss this?
Federal government business subsidies are huge. And mostly wasteful
Restructuring or eliminating ineffective subsidies could easily save $25 billion a year
Veterans Affairs officials complained military too white and sexist
A women and LGBTQ forum hosted by Veterans Affairs Canada was riddled with accusations from top staff that Canada’s military structure is dominated by white men and based on a tradition of racism.
Military ditching aptitude test for some applicants, will start accepting recruits with medical conditions
The military has dropped its aptitude test from the application process for dozens of jobs and plans to start accepting recruits with pre-existing medical conditions — trial efforts meant to boost the Canadian Armed Forces’ dismal recruitment numbers.
Brig.-Gen. Krista Brodie, the commander overseeing military recruitment, said the new trials are meant to test out possible solutions as CAF continues to lose more people than it brings in.
“We’re changing things and measuring and adjusting as we go,” Brodie told CBC News. “We don’t always get it right but it’s moving in a positive direction.”
How to fix Canada’s military recruiting crunch? Pay more: ex-defence chief
One potential solution to the Canadian Armed Force’s recruitment issues is to simply pay people more, says former chief of the defence staff retired Gen. Tom Lawson.
“Nobody complains about what the Canadian Air Forces are being paid, nobody says the Canadian Air Forces are overpaid,” Lawson told The West Block host Mercedes Stephenson.
Can’t hurt to have extra cash for a 2nd pair of high heels and a feather boa.
As Bill Blair ramps up his warnings about the state of the military, Trudeau sticks to his script
There’s a school of thought that suggests it’s never a good idea to disagree with your boss, at least in public.
Behind closed doors? Maybe.
But in front of an audience of hundreds of people, many of them with strong political views? Maybe not.
Defence Minister Bill Blair still went there Thursday in his keynote speech at the annual Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI) when he chose to address growing unease about Canada’s place in the world — and the military’s waning capacity to be there in a meaningful way when the call comes from the federal government and allies.
Email reveals that Ottawa told Canada’s top soldier not to call budget changes ‘cuts’
OTTAWA — Canada’s top soldier was told he couldn’t use the word “cut” in a memo to soldiers about the federal government’s budget plans for the military, newly disclosed documents reveal.
The emails late last summer between Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre’s office and the Department of National Defence (DND), obtained by the Star under the Access to Information Act, highlight the bewildering semantics — and the tension — between Canada’s soldiers and its politicians when it comes to defence spending.
DND is expected to have almost $2.6 billion in its budget “reallocated” over the next three years as a part of the Liberals’ broader exercise to redirect $14.1 billion in spending over the next five years, according to plans tabled last week.