The Sad State of the Canadian Military

by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU. CHISU, CD, PMSC, FEC, CET, P. Eng. Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East Considering the geopolitical situation today and the rising potential of a world conflict, the status of the Canadian Military is not one that the country can be proud. Years of neglect in terms of infrastructure, the supply of military hardware and personnel, make the future look bleak. In short, Canada's military is facing a series of problems that, without a serious infusion of cash and attention from the federal government, could threaten our standing in an unpredictable world. Over the past 50 years and more, it is painfully clear that the military has been off the radar in Ottawa. Pledges made about meeting the NATO requirement of two percent of GDP are never met, no matter who forms government. The truth is we are laggard, and remain beholden to the United States to protect us. As a result, our armed forces are broken, and that is shameful. Interestingly enough, the Canadian government has found money to support the Ukrainian war effort by billions of dollars, further depleting the already scarce resources of the Canadian Forces. Canadian politicians of all stripes made grandiose statements about contributing to Ukraine’s war effort but the fact that is we cannot contribute much more than a few weapons. Such is the state of our armed forces. It is time to get back to basics and understand that the role of our military as a common sense concept is to assure the defence of our land. Therefore, the challenges, which have preoccupied Canadian defence policymakers since Confederation, have been how to maintain territorial sovereignty. Specifically, these challenges are related to the vast territorial sweep of the country and the fact that much of its claimed territory is sparsely populated, especially in the Arctic. For much of the post-World War II period, this concern was framed in terms of a Cold War-based threat coming from the Soviet Union, and more recently, from Russia and China. Considering this new reality, Canada should pursue a strong approach to sovereignty in the Arctic in the future. Appropriate investments should be continued for upgrading both naval and other military capacity in the Arctic region. However, a purely military approach to security will not be enough and an approach of developing an economic structure in the Arctic needs to be pursued. This should be part of a general vision for developing Canada. Unfortunately, none of the current political platforms, advocated by any political party in Canada, shows any sign of a vision for the future of Canada. Think about it. Canada is the second largest country in the world in terms of territory, but has a population of barely 40 million people. This population is concentrated around four major cities, one of which is the capital city of Ottawa. The time has come to look for a global vision of Canada. This has been done in the past. The time has come to establish a new capital of this vast country, somewhere in the geographical center. Along with this, it is necessary to have a new vision for the military and a new leadership, one that understands the needs of a military capable of efficiently securing our borders. The situation today is that we have a Minister of National Defence with very limited knowledge or understanding of the needs of the military. His background might be versed in policing, but the military is a different issue. Military leadership requires specific military skills. He also needs to stand up for the military rather than simply be subservient to the Prime Minister’s Office. Recently Defense Minister Bill Blair acknowledged an uncomfortable reality. "My assessment is we've got some work to do," he told reporters The minister was in Edmonton to announce C$45.3 million in infrastructure upgrades at the city's military base — a drop in the bucket of the Department of National Defence's worsening backlog of deferred maintenance. Blair said the military he oversees has to do better at arming itself and recruiting new members. Empty words, without any corresponding action. With continuing budgetary restrains meted out to our Canadian Forces, coupled with continued and reckless support for international projects, the Government is relegating our Canadian Forces to a deplorable state. This is a very bleak outlook for the years to come, without a drastic change. For the moment, only a fraction of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is available to ship out at any given moment. The 2024-25 plan pegs the "approximate total" of deployable soldiers in the coming year at 13,000. In addition, they face a crumbling infrastructure and a disarray in new military equipment and weapons supply. The National Defence department's property "will continue to degrade at an accelerated rate due to systemic and significant underfunding in maintenance and recapitalization." In my view, Canadian politicians are living in a fairyland world full of pixie dust when it comes to dealing with our military. Maybe Vladimir Putin has been a reality check. Let’s hope so, because the state of our armed forces is very sad!