The 2006 federal budget
on May 2, 2006, promised the Canadian Forces a cash
infusion of $5.3 billion over the next five years.
It is notable that this promise by the Conservative
government is largely empty, as the government
included only $1.126 billion in guaranteed funding
over this fiscal year and next. The is no legal
requirement for the government to provide the
remainder of the promised $5.3 billion – there is
only the word of the politicians to come through
with the funding in the next federal budget, or
another thereafter.
The bulk of the
guaranteed $1.126 billion allocation to the military
will be put towards the Conservative’s “Canada
First” policy. This policy is meant to reform the
Canadian Forces, through internal processes and new
capital procurements, to provide a more efficient
response to disasters and security situations on
Canadian soil (in comparison to the 2005 federal
budget, in which the previous Liberal government
focused mainly on equipping the Canadian Forces for
overseas emergency response). The other $1 million,
which is to be spent this year, is to assist in the
construction of the Royal Canadian Air Force
Memorial Museum in Trenton, Ontario.
What We Can Hope to
Expect
If the Conservative
government should stick to its commitment to provide
$5.3 billion in additional defence spending, an
adherence dependent on whether the minority survives
to see another budget, there are eight key
objectives of the Budget 2006 defence commitments:
-
Proceed with the
transformation of military operations and
defence administration.
-
Accelerate the
recruitment of 13,000 additional regular forces
and 10,000 additional reserve forces personnel.
-
Expand training,
reduce rank structure overhead, review civilian
and military headquarters functions, and
increase front-line personnel.
-
Increase investment
in base infrastructure and housing for the
Canadian Forces.
-
Acquire equipment
needed to support a multi-role, combat-capable
maritime, land, and air force.
-
Restore regular
army presence in British Columbia.
-
Increase the
Canadian Force’s capacity to protect Canada’s
Arctic sovereignty and security.
-
Initiate the
establishment of territorial battalions.
One of the most
important points noted is the commitment to reduce
rank structure overhead and review the headquarters
functions. Currently, in the Canadian Forces, there
exists a bloated officer corps’ (in comparison to
other nations) which has caused problems at a time
when there are too few non-commissioned members in
the Forces. The Canadian Forces have more flag
officers per-capita (~100) than any other NATO
nation, with a military of barely 59,000 personnel.
Reducing the officer corps and redirecting recruits
to non-commissioned positions is critical to fixing
this imbalance.
At National Defence
Headquarters (NDHQ), the complexity of a military
command headquarters (the Canadian Forces) being
wholly intertwined with that of a civilian command
(the Department of National Defence civil staff) has
been a bane of unification since the 1970s.
Duplication of functions exists in both commands at
NDHQ, resulting in a huge staff – more than is
necessary for a military of Canada’s size. Critics
have lambasted the Department for having such a
large staff at NDHQ during a time when the
non-commissioned ranks are quickly thinning and
loosing qualified soldiers to the private sector and
retirement.
Many of the
commitments, while part of the Conservative election
platform during the January 2006 federal election,
have had no indication of being developed at this
time. The latter three involving the restoration of
regular army presence in British Columbia, the
establishment of territorial defence battalions, and
Arctic sovereignty, are not expected to be tackled
until at least the next federal budget (once again,
if the Conservatives last to give another) due to
other priorities. Those priorities include creating
a more efficient and effective recruit training
system to handle the authorized influx of new
personnel, and the acquisition of critical capital
equipment, such as replacements for the CC130
Hercules fleet.
Overall, the commitment
of the Conservative government is welcomed, but the
allocated funds do not come close to showing a
serious commitment, at least for this budgetary
year, by the minority government. The 2006 federal
budget, make no mistake, was about cutting taxes
(and thereby cutting income to the federal
government), not about ensuring that much needed
spending reached critical areas such as national
defence. It can only be hoped that the massive tax
cuts in this budget will not hamper cash flow and
future spending commitments vital to the stability
and effectiveness of the Canadian Forces.