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CASR
Defence
Spending &
CF Force
Structure
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Canadian
Defence Policy,
Foreign
Policy,
& Canada-US
Relations
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Defence Spending & CF Force Structure |
Canadian Defence Policy - Expeditionary Force
– February 2005
Streamlined, Integrated, and Effective —
How will
General Rick Hillier help hone the Canadian Forces?
Dianne DeMille and Stephen Priestley – updated from a View from the West
Whenever the Canadian government underwrites any expensive military operation,
it's looking for two kinds of political pay-off –
international and domestic.
The politicians who control
the purse strings want the Canadian Forces (CF)
to be 'seen' in the trouble spots of the world.
In a Canadian Press article, dated 27 January
2005, journalist Stephen Thorne,
a consistent chronicler of the ongoing 'defence review',
reported that a kind of
consensus was emerging on the Hill.
Politicians and bureaucrats from Foreign
Affairs, National Defence, and CIDA are leaning towards a
rapidly deployable,
expeditionary force that is 'light-weight',
highly mobile, and self-contained.
Just before Christmas 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin and
Defence Minister
Bill Graham agreed that LGen Rick Hillier
would become the next Chief of Defence Staff
(CDS). This appointment is significant.
Read full article – with updates on recent developments.
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Question Number 1 – CASR's Online Symposium
– September 2004
Canada-US Cooperation in the Defence of North America
Canada's Maritime Security Conundrum:
Should NORAD be expanded to include a multi-layered, maritime surveillance
and defence system for the whole of the
North American continent?
Philippe Lagassé, of Carleton University in Ottawa, replies:
In 2006, with the renewal of NORAD, Canada and the United States should establish a
new binational North American maritime security command centre beside NORAD’s
existing continental aerospace defence system, in order to:
• maximize the efficiency of both countries maritime security capabilities and assets
• provide greater awarenesss and control over North America’s maritime domain
• strengthen Canada’s long-lived defence and continental relationship with the US,
essential in an age of catastrophic terrorism.
Philippe Lagassé examines ways to acquire new maritime security assets.
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Canada - US Relations - Defence Budget
– August 2004
Canada-US Relations: The Binational Planning Group
and the
Maritime Security of North America
Excerpts of a recent paper by Joel J. Sokolsky, Dean of Arts and Sciences,
Professor of Political Science at the Royal Military College,
Kingston
The View from Cheyenne Mountain
The US government intends to bring the land and maritime aspects
of homeland defence under Northern Command. For example,
the United States Coast Guard has become the lead agency in
NORTHCOM missions. In the past, any maritime
collaboration between Canada and the US has lacked
a central organizational
structure. Because of the Command changes inside
Cheyenne Mountain, Canada must now pay more attention to
maritime security.
The final 'architecture' of the Department of Homeland Security
remains to
be seen. There is still a measure of uncertainty and
bureaucratic jockeying
within the US government. But there can be no denying
that the creation of the Northern Command has fundamentally
changed the nature of future Canada – US maritime security
ties.
Read excerpts from a paper by Joel Sokolsky on Canada-US Relations. |
Canadian Defence Budget – November 2003
Reallocating Defence Spending:
Transforming the Canadian Army into a Niche Force?
The Honourable John McCallum, Minister of National Defence
Speech to the Canadian Defence Industries Association, Ottawa
Ed: The Soviet Union deployed a strategic airlift capability and lots of tanks.
It didn't help. The empire fell – partly due to the weight of its own military spending. The
wealth of the Russian people was misspent. In Canada, we had the opposite problem: too much concern
about our personal prosperity, and not enough concern about our military capability.
Under pressure from both foreign and domestic sources, the Liberals
have finally increased the budget for defence spending. John
McCallum, the current Minister of National Defence, says
that now it's time to 're-allocate' resources from low- to high-priority
projects. What is needed, he asserts, is a profound
change in the way that procurement decisions are made at National
Defence Headquarters.
[Appended is the 29 October DND Press Release announcing the purchase
of the Mobile Gun System, which is related to the US Army's LAV III-based Stryker.]
Read edited version of the Minister's speech and the DND
Press Release
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Canadian Defence Budget – September 2003
Canadian Forces make the cover of Jane's Defence Weekly:
Worst-managed Forces in the Western
World?
It was the second anniversary of the 11 September 2001
attacks and the Jane's Defence Weekly featured, as its
cover story, the sad state of the Canadian military.
Canada, it implied, has the most under - funded, worst - managed
armed forces in the Western world.
For readers who have never seen this periodical, Jane's Defence Weekly is a small part of a very large
and lucrative publishing empire based in the United Kingdom. Carefully - researched and well - documented,
techno - political tidbits are eagerly consumed by procurement officers and
'policy wonks' alike. Jane's Defence Weekly tracks who is buying
what from whom,
with all the news and gossip from the latest arms shows. The latter is served up mainly for
the delectation of the 'dark lords' who control the morally flexible, globe-spanning
defence industry.
Read CASR editorial response to JDW article
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Canadian Defence Budget – March 2003
'Buy the Best, Kill the Rest'
Minister John McCallum ranks DND's Pet Projects
From the Minister's speech, 27 February 2003 — "I have asked the Department to examine
existing procurement plans with a view to weeding out low - priority projects. Domestically, there are
core functions that the Canadian Forces must always carry out. The army must
respond to domestic crises like the ice storm, and it must contribute to homeland defence. The navy must patrol
our shorelines, and the air force must patrol our skies.
Overseas, on the other hand, since Canada always
operates as part of a coalition, we have greater freedom to build on our strengths,
to 'specialize', and
to choose among alternative capabilities. [ . . . ] we will have
to make difficult choices, asymmetric, unequal choices.
When one is embarking on the path of 'transformation',
the worst policy in the world is to have 'across-the-board' budget
increases that are equal for all."
Part 1 — Sorting DND's Major Procurement Plans and
Projects
Part 2 — Excerpts of 27 February 2003 Speech
by Minister John McCallum
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Canadian Defence Budget – January 2003
Can DND use its new budget to re-invent Canada's Forces?
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Finance Minister John Manley have announced that there will be more
money for the Department of National Defence (DND) in the upcoming February 2003 budget. Canada has been under
great pressure to increase its defence spending from its military allies, especially the United States. In
addition, several domestic voices have recently claimed that increased spending on the Canadian Forces has now
become a matter of extreme urgency.
No one knows just how much money will be allocated for National Defence – health care
seems to be the top priority in the current cabinet – but we can assume that the
amount will be significant. Key questions arise: How best to spend this money?
How can new resources be deployed most effectively?
What shape should the Canadian Forces take in this changed world?
Read full editorial comment
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