It’s difficult to visualize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaping from his bed in an epiphany about spending on Canada’s military, shouting: “Lord God Almighty, I’ve seen the light!”
Given that, there is something strange going on with military procurement in our country.
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Placing an initial order for a small fleet of 16 F-35 jet fighters — the full complement of 88 won’t arrive until much later — might well have overshadowed some other significant purchases.
In fact, Trudeau’s historical reluctance to fund the military seems to be fading slightly, with an uncharacteristic loosening of the purse strings to purchase everything from uniforms to light armoured vehicles.
But don’t get too excited.
Much of this badly needed gear won’t be in the hands of those who need it for years. The first F-35s won’t hit RCAF airstrips until 2026, for example.
Much of the blame lies firmly at the doorstep of Trudeau’s Liberals.
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When Trudeau was campaigning in 2015, he vowed his government would never purchase a single F-35, which he said, “might be Stephen Harper’s dream, but I can tell you for Canadian taxpayers, it’ll be a nightmare.”
In June of 2016, now as prime minister, he stated, “They (Conservatives) clung to an aircraft (F-35) that does not work and is far from working.”
He went on to proclaim, “We saw through the entire (Conservative) process, that they were particularly, and some might say unreasonably or unhealthily, attached to the F-35 aircraft.”
Obviously, at that time, he was ready to pull the plug on the whole F-35 program, even though the country had already invested several hundred million dollars in its development. Today, that figure is about $600 million.
Pulling the plug on Canadian military deals is no stranger to Liberal governments.
Remember former prime minister Jean Chretien’s cancellation of the almost completed, long-debated, helicopter deal back in 1993?
That exercise cost taxpayers $473 million in breach of contract penalties.
It took the deaths of pilot Maj. Wally Sweetman and co-pilot Maj. Bob Henderson in 1994 to re-kindle the procurement debate after their 30-year-old Sea King helicopter caught fire and crashed to earth.
At the time, Sweetman’s mother quoted her son as saying the decrepit ‘copters were like, “old cars running on rubber bands and gum.”
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Today, our helicopter capabilities are still well below par.
Even Trudeau’s father, Pierre, long considered the “enemy” of the military, had a healthier track record when it came to acquiring vitally needed fighter jets in a timely fashion.
In 1980, his government purchased 138 new CF-18s and began taking delivery just two years later.
Yes, that’s all it took, two years, not three decades or more.
The present Liberal government has stumbled from pillar to post on the F-35 issue since it was first elected.
Seven years later, after condemning the aircraft so very publicly, we are still three years away from accepting the first delivery following Trudeau’s flip-flop.
And let’s not forget the classic example of throwing good money after bad as our government did with the purchase of 18 aging, creaking F-18 hand-me-downs from Australia as a stop gap.
I’m not sure if all these fighter jets are even fully operational today.
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Our government placed an order with Australia in November, 2018 and, according to the Department of National Defence, only eight Australian aircraft had been released to the RCAF by March 28, 2022.
Canada’s military is in a general state of turmoil.
The army says it’s about 10,000 members understaffed. Some of us who pay close attention to military matters figure the real number is far higher.
Although equipment is a huge part of the equation, from where we stand, the problem goes a whole lot deeper.
Here’s Chief of Defence Staff Lt. General Wayne Eyre referring to DND’s state of readiness:
“That is one of the things that keeps me awake at night. How do we ensure we’re ready to fight tonight?”
It’s long past the time that Trudeau and his government should have gotten a sensible grip on our defence needs and all its attendant challenges.
— Col. Gilbert Taylor, (HCol. retired) is the past president of the Royal Canadian Military Institute and Ontario Branch of the Last Post Fund