Steven Staples of the Rideau Institute testified before the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence on Thursday, 9 February 2012 on the subject of Canadian defence policy and military spending.

Representatives from the DND-funded Conference of Defence Associations and David Macdonald of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives also testified (“MPs consider readiness of Canadian Forces,” iPolitics, 9 February 2012):

Lt.-Gen. Evraire of the Conference of Defence Associations testified that either the government must ensure that the reductions in defence spending allow the CF to continue to follow the [Harper government’s “Canada First Defence Strategy”], or the government must re-evaluate the CFDS as needed.

Col. MacDonald, (Ret.) also of the Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) testified that defence spending would need to rise by 5.3 to 7 per cent annually in order to maintain the current level of capital renewal, but the government has called for cuts of 5 to 10 per cent across the government of Canada. Adding that the CFDS did not account properly for capital renewal, nor these proposed budgetary cuts.

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Mr. Staples of the Rideau Institute suggested that over five years, the government should return defence spending to pre-9/11 levels, and a 7 to 15 per cent reduction in spending this year. Over five years, the defence budget should be reduced to $15 billion annually through the elimination of the four submarines, the shelving of the F-35s, the re-evaluation of the recent naval procurement, reduction in troop levels, and a review of the CFDS.

You can listen to an audio recording of the testimony here.