Before the F-35 fiasco, there was the Maritime Helicopter Program, another disastrous, wasteful military procurement program. Whatever happened to that program? As David Pugliese reported earlier this month (“Sikorsky hasn’t paid $8M fine for late helicopter delivery,” Ottawa Citizen, 3 January 2012), we’re still waiting to get something out of it: The original plan called […]
In a recent op-ed article in Embassy magazine, Steven Staples, president of the Rideau Institute, argues that Canada’s military spending needs to be curbed: In 2010-11, Department of National Defence spending is estimated to reach $22.2 billion, its highest level since Canada was in Europe fighting Hitler. That level is 12 per cent higher than […]
On October 19th, Steve Staples of the Rideau Institute was invited onto the Lang and O’Leary Exchange on CBC to discuss the recently announced $33-billion shipbuilding contracts. The discussion addressed matters such as necessity of the ships and thoughts on the political background of the procurement. Click here to view the exchange.
The Rideau Institute has released a new report that tabulates, for the first time, the number of additional dollars spent on national security since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The report, called The Cost of 9/11: Tracking the Creation of a National Security Establishment, was written by economist David Macdonald and examines how […]
None of Canada’s four Victoria-class submarines, billed as a “bargain” when they were bought used from Britain in 1998, are currently operational (David Pugliese, “All Canadian submarines now out of commission,” Postmedia News, 4 September 2011): The navy’s last operational submarine is now sidelined until 2016, leaving the service without an underwater capability and potentially […]
Well-known Canadian military historian, commentator, and fan of the Rideau Institute (OK, we made that last bit up) Jack Granatstein is taking issue with the Harper government’s plan to cut Department of National Defence funding for the Security and Defence Forum (SDF), a program that supports academics working in the field of defence and security […]