Equipment for Canada's military; If you are going to do something, do it properly.

If you are going to do something, do it properly.  That’s the message the federal government needs to get when it comes to ensuring all branches of the Canadian Armed Forces are properly equipped.  A story in today’s Globe and Mail indicates that Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) personnel have had to buy parts on the internet auction site Ebay to keep the Navy’s two aging supply ships in service. 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/navy-mechanics-turn-to-ebay-to-find-replacement-parts/article24475224/

The RCN is planning to retire HMCS Protecteur and Preserver before their replacements are laid down, leaving Canada with an obvious shortage of naval hardware.  This move accompanies the retirement of tribal-class destroyer, HMCS Iroquois, just over two weeks ago.  Her sister ship, HMCS Algonquin will be retired in just under a month.  Iroquois is shown in this Canadian Armed Forces television commercial from 1980 during that odd era when the RCN was called Maritime Command and every man (there were no women) aboard ships had an Army rank and wore green.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDSaEWdMbI4

So, Canada is left with a severe deficit of naval materiel due to tight budgets and bureaucracy bungling the procurement process.  It’s a situation similar to the scandal-plagued scheme to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CF-18 Hornet fighters with the F-35, and the even more embarrassing continued use of the Sea King naval attack helicopters.  Protecteur, Preserver, Iroquois, and Algonquin date back to the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  The Sea King has been in the air, albeit perilously at times, since 1962.  The CF-18 meanwhile is showroom new in comparison, Pierre Trudeau got to ride in a new one during his final term as Prime Minister in the early 1980’s.

The Harper government loves to trash-talk the way in which past Liberal governments funded the military.  The truth is, they are scrapping—and not replacing military hardware that was purchased by Liberal governments!  Yes, the oddball unification of the armed forces (back to army ranks and green uniforms on ships again) was a Liberal mistake as it dealt a blow to distinction and tradition, but from a materiel standpoint there was not a whole lot wrong with it.  And of course there was the embarrassing purchase of those essentially derelict submarines from the Royal Navy about a decade ago which was the equivalent of a 16 year old buying a jalopy car from a dishonest older brother.  Those events aside,  I would venture to say past Liberal defence procurements were far more successful than the lack of action or scandal that has come to define procurement under Harper.  The Harper gang love to talk big about supporting “troops” (which is not even a correct Canadian term, our military personnel are soldiers, sailors, and aviators) and cast us as some kind of Ghengis Khan “warrior nation” (which we really aren’t unless there’s a good reason for it), but they fail to provide the men and women serving in our military with adequate, safe, modern equipment to fulfill their responsibilities.  It is shameful and embarrassing.  It comes back to my opening sentence; If you are going to do something, do it properly.  Why even have a Royal Canadian Navy at all if it is not properly equipped and funded?

While military equipment falls apart or is just simply gone without, the Armed Forces, with Harper government support, continues the advertising campaign to keep public support strong.  I used to love watching the RCAF Snowbirds, the aerobatic squadron lodged in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan.  As a kid, I remember them flying over the lighthouse at the tip of Presqu’ile Point on Lake Ontario and seeing them perform nearby at the CFB Trenton Air Show while the song Snowbird by Anne Murray played on the loudspeakers.  I was always amused by the Canadian Army’s Skyhawks parachute team that would appear at air shows, prompting fascination from the crowd and laughter from children because it always looked like the coloured smoke was coming out of the paratroopers rear ends as they descended.  I can’t watch any of these events with a good conscience anymore.  Both are a complete waste of money.  The RCN is barely afloat, the RCAF needs new fighter planes, and we spend millions on what is basically advertising through pilots doing stunts with 50 year old jet trainers (the Tutor is the aircraft used by the Snowbirds), and so some men with parachutes can dazzle the crowd with multi-coloured smoke.  The money spent on these things should be going to the real needs of the military.  Again, if you are going to do something, do it properly.

The sad state of procurement adds to the dossier of difficulties facing the Canadian Armed Forces.  Recent reports have shown there is a serious problem with sexual discrimination, harassment, and even violence within the military.    The Harper government continues to talk big with its involvement in fighting ISIS, but how can ISIS be successfully fought if there is insufficient equipment to do it with?  Why is the government so obsessed with security and surveillance when military bases and installations across the country are not even furnished with sufficient security?  Many facilities are now weakly guarded by the quasi-private Corps of Commissionaires, many members of which have no proper training in policing, security, or military procedure.  If the Harper gang were really serious about security, they would restore the practice of having actual members of the Military Police guard military bases and buildings.  I’ll repeat this sentence once more; If you are going to do something, do it properly.  If Canada is going to have a proper military, the government needs to cut out the political bluster, bureaucratic bungling, and corruption of procurement and ensure it is properly equipped.