The Canadian Army has reallocated $5 million to pay for Reserve training that it cancelled earlier this year as a cost-cutting measure. In a press release last week (“Class A Reserves receive $5 million for training,” 3 February 2010), Army commander Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie acknowledged that “Obviously the situation is not ideal, as this funding […]
Tag Archives: Defence policy
Pentagon requests record $708 billion budget
The Obama administration on Monday requested Congressional approval for a record $708 billion in military spending for fiscal year 2011. Defense Secretary Robert Gates stressed the need for the Pentagon to prepare for a broader range of approaching security challenges while continuing to fund two ongoing wars and also expanding operations in Yemen and Somalia, where […]
Loon watch: CDAI "promotes informed public debate"
The mandate of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute is to “provide research support to the Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) and promote informed public debate on national security and defence issues.” And as a contribution to that informed public debate, the latest edition of its magazine On Track contains an article by retired Colonel […]
Mental health and the military
What has killed the most U.S. military personnel during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? Surprisingly, the answer is suicide. That disturbing statistic could also be true for Canadian soldiers participating in the Afghanistan war, but we just don’t know. Testifying to a forum on the problems faced by Canadian veterans that was organized by Liberal […]
Army shelves Close Combat Vehicle purchase
The Ottawa Citizen reports (David Pugliese, Combat vehicles for army on hold, document shows, Ottawa Citizen, 21 January 2010) that the purchase of a new fleet of Close Combat Vehicles (CCVs) for the army has been postponed by the Harper government. Although the CCV purchase had been promised as a top priority by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, Public Works […]
Military budget facing more “adjustments”
David Pugliese reports (Canadian military seeking another $233 million in savings, Vancouver Sun, 19 January 2010) that the Department of National Defence is facing another $233 million in budget “adjustments” by the end of March. However, like the $190 million in “adjustments” reported earlier, the money DND plans to save will not be removed from […]