"Message to the Federal Liberals:  Find Your Money Elsewhere!"

September 3, 2003

Back in February, when the federal Liberals tabled their budget, it seemed that even they had begun to grudgingly accept what is a commonly known as fact:  the Canadian armed forces are miserably under-funded.  

Alas, this was but a fleeting and insincere moment of insight on the part of the federal government.  It was discovered last week that, under a budget ‘reallocation’ exercise, the Liberals have been quietly arranging to shuffle $200-million dollars of the increase to what they believe to be “more important” expenditures. 

The Canadian forces simply haven’t any more money to give.  The increase designated in February didn’t even come close to meeting the kind of funding needed to properly equip and train our existing forces.  Now, the Department of National Defence will be handing back a quarter of that increase. 

The Finance Minister and the Defence Minister say the money is needed to pay for spending in higher priority areas.  In the current international climate of war, terror and political instability, I find it difficult to accept that the armed forces are not a high priority.  Since the federal government itself has been so ready of late to call upon our forces to serve, that level of priority should be obvious to it as well.  

Canada’s military capacity has been over-extended to the point Canada has withdrawn from existing peacekeeping operations to make ends meet.  The mission to Afghanistan, comprised of 1900 troops, is the largest Canadian deployment since the Korean War.  Then there are the 1500 troops helping to fight B.C. forest fires.

There’s no question that the men and women of our armed forces possess the willingness and dedication to get the job done.  These soldiers continue to impress with their bravery and they deserve the same kind of commitment from their own government.  Yet, under former Finance Minister Paul Martin, the Liberals cut $20-billion in real cumulative dollars from National Defence.  

This year, both the Air Force and the Navy received just over six percent of the additional funding they said they needed simply to meet their current commitments.  Canada spent less on defence as a percentage of GDP last year than any other country in the NATO military alliance, with the exception of tiny Luxembourg. 

It’s no secret that cuts to the military are embraced among many within the Liberal ranks who believe that only foreign aid, not military enforcement, will ensure international security and stability.  Yet, ironically, one of the other big “losers” in the Liberals’ reallocation scheme is the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).  Responsible for dispensing foreign aid, CIDA is poised to give back $130-million.  By simultaneously pulling out troops from peacekeeping missions and cutting foreign aid, the Liberals are gutting Canada’s role and credibility on the international stage.

The Canadian Alliance believes the increase to Canada's defence budget should total $2-billion annually.  Instead, the only priority the Liberals seem to place on "firepower" concerns their pet project known as the federal firearms registry.  If they really need to find the cash to pay their bills, they should leave the under-funded military alone and find an immediate savings of hundreds of millions of dollars by scrapping their useless gun registry.