Liberals to cut defence budget

[Argus]

Interesting idea of priorities from the Liberals. It's a dangerous world out here, and Canadian soldiers are dying for lack of proper equipment, but the Liberals plan to slash military spending so they can give out more grants to artists to produce soliloquys and sonnets to butterflies.

Here’s the interesting part: McCallum (a former defence minister, by the way) suggests that one of the first things he’d tighten spending on is the Canadian Forces. “I think the defence budget in recent years has gone up at a very dramatic rate and that for us to continue . . . without further ramping up is responsible, particularly at a time of shortage of money.” (Arts funding, however, will get more money from the Liberals).

National Post

[M.Dancer]

Interesting idea of priorities from the Liberals. It's a dangerous world out here, and Canadian soldiers are dying for lack of proper equipment, but the Liberals plan to slash military spending so they can give out more grants to artists to produce soliloquys and sonnets to butterflies.

Here’s the interesting part: McCallum (a former defence minister, by the way) suggests that one of the first things he’d tighten spending on is the Canadian Forces. “I think the defence budget in recent years has gone up at a very dramatic rate and that for us to continue . . . without further ramping up is responsible, particularly at a time of shortage of money.” (Arts funding, however, will get more money from the Liberals).

National Post

I cannot fathom why they are fighting for the 15% of the electorate.

[wulf42]

Interesting idea of priorities from the Liberals. It's a dangerous world out here, and Canadian soldiers are dying for lack of proper equipment, but the Liberals plan to slash military spending so they can give out more grants to artists to produce soliloquys and sonnets to butterflies.

Here’s the interesting part: McCallum (a former defence minister, by the way) suggests that one of the first things he’d tighten spending on is the Canadian Forces. “I think the defence budget in recent years has gone up at a very dramatic rate and that for us to continue . . . without further ramping up is responsible, particularly at a time of shortage of money.” (Arts funding, however, will get more money from the Liberals).

National Post

lol.................more reason than ever that Liberal support is slipping and must never be allowed to be in power.....while the arts are flourishing and Liberalites everywhere can run in a circle with flowers in their hair and sing "we are the world"....terrorist's can resume their attacks on North America and other countries can prepare to invade us...but at least we will have good artists...to paint the Russians nice pictures when they get here assuming they (the Russians) don t kill them all first...!

Edited September 25, 2008 by wulf42

[Topaz]

lol.................more reason than ever that Liberal support is slipping and must never be allowed to be in power.....while the arts are flourishing and Liberalites everywhere can run in a circle with flowers in their hair and sing "we are the world"....terrorist's can resume their attacks on North America and other countries can prepare to invade us...but at least we will have good artists...to paint the Russians nice pictures when they get here assuming they (the Russians) don t kill them all first...!

NAME one country that wants to invade Canada?? Harper wants to spend $450 BILLION by 2020 for the military and so our debt will go up especially if we too go into a recession like the US. He'll have a harder time getting recruits unless they pay them more than the private sector could ever dream.

[wulf42]

NAME one country that wants to invade Canada?? Harper wants to spend $450 BILLION by 2020 for the military and so our debt will go up especially if we too go into a recession like the US. He'll have a harder time getting recruits unless they pay them more than the private sector could ever dream.

well the easy answer to that is we are in NATO!!! The Russian threat to the U.S. and the growing threat from the Chinese is ever present America stands in the way of both countries conquest....China and Tiawan for example and Russia would love to rebuild its empire with out worry from the U.S.!... since we are in Nato if the USA is attacked we are obligated to go to war ..........if either of these countries thought they could achieve a military victory over the USA they would do so in a heartbeat! which means in the case of Russia...they would have to fly right over Canada to get to the USA!!!.....use your head for god sake's.... the Bear is and will always be our enemy they are just looking and waiting for a chance and the Chinese are no better.......anybody or Government stupid enough to trust either of these two countries is not worthy of being in power ie ... Liberals!!

[AngusThermopyle]

Well its good to see the Liberals remain a one trick pony. Gut the Military to fund other programs of a, ahem, highly dubious nature. Nothing new here just the same old misguided Liberal philosophy of stupidity and duplicity.

What I find interesting is the part where they laugh about not having a housing strategy while they claim to have one. Could this be an example of a hidden agenda? Could it even fall into the Liberals very own self created "scary scary scary" type of backroom machinations.

How anyone can support the Liberals and their wingnut ideas is beyond me.

[wulf42]

Well its good to see the Liberals remain a one trick pony. Gut the Military to fund other programs of a, ahem, highly dubious nature. Nothing new here just the same old misguided Liberal philosophy of stupidity and duplicity.

What I find interesting is the part where they laugh about not having a housing strategy while they claim to have one. Could this be an example of a hidden agenda? Could it even fall into the Liberals very own self created "scary scary scary" type of backroom machinations.

How anyone can support the Liberals and their wingnut ideas is beyond me.

lol...i know what you mean....they are the most corrupt and out of touch people on the planet .....thank God they have no chance of winning!!

[AngusThermopyle]

they are the most corrupt and out of touch people on the planet

Thats a hard one to dispute. What I find interesting is the fact that in the "Harper does it again" thread Liberal supporters are back on the hidden agenda/scary scary scary bandwagon for no justifiable reason yet right here is a perfect example of Liberal hidden agendas. This example is however convieniently overlooked by Liberal supporters.

[eyeball]

I could care less about the Liberals but I too would slash military funding not for the sake of arts and culture though. As one wag put it, it is a dangerous world out there and our well being and way of life is indeed in harms way. There's nothing more terrifying than knowing our economy's management is likely devoid of any real regulatory oversight.

I'd use the funds to ensure there was total public awareness of every single thing our politicians and senior bureacrats say and do.

Another accountability (spit) act? Not likely, I'm thinking more along the lines of a Anti-secrecy Act.

Edited September 25, 2008 by eyeball

[White Doors]

I have to admit, I am enjoying watching the death spasms of the liberal party this election.

This is what the Liberal party truly needed.

[Army Guy]

NAME one country that wants to invade Canada?? Harper wants to spend $450 BILLION by 2020 for the military and so our debt will go up especially if we too go into a recession like the US. He'll have a harder time getting recruits unless they pay them more than the private sector could ever dream.

who ever came up with those numbers are on crack. lets just take a look at one article that was published by the globe and mail....

The 20-year defence plan would see the military budget increase annually by 2 per cent as of 2011 and hike the military's budget to $30-billion in 2027-28 from the current level of $18-million.

These yearly increases will ensure the defence budget keeps pace with inflation over that period

.

Current military budget is just over 18 bil, not 18 million (a small mistake) and will raise by 2 percent a year until it reaches 30 Bil in in 2027/28...is that scary or what....but did we all read it will allow us to keep pace with inflation .... yes they will be giving DND more money however it's buying power is not really going to be awhole lot more..not bad for a dept that is already in the red, or very close to it....

Whats this mean, it means that DND will not actually be seening any more growth than it actually is now....And i think most Canadians will agree that the Military is far from recovering from the dark years as Hillier put it...and the future is not getting any better...

The funding includes $20 billion for new aircraft, tanks and ships, in addition to $15-billion in transport planes, trucks and helicopters that had been purchased earlier.

DND has already said and has been reported in the media, that to recover and maintain todays capabilities it would need equipment expenitures of well over 150 bil....that is not to finance growth, but to maintain what we have today....which is really sad when you think i could list all our major equipment on a few lines on this post....even luxemburg can do that....and ya , most of us are saying who is luxemburg....

The price tag includes a projection of $250-billion to recruit 70,000 regular and 30,000 reserve force personnel, along with $140-billion for spare parts, maintenance and training.

250 Bil for recruitment....DND has already said it wants to bring our numbers up to 70,000 regular force, and 30 reserve personal, it's already at 58,000 reg force pers...so 250 Bil for 12,000 extra personal where are they getting them from, and what are they training them to do...even NASA does not spend that much on recruits....Give us a break.....thats comes out to over 25 million dollars per recruit....Something stinks and it stinks bad....

Most Canadians agree that our military desparately needs to be overhauled , and modernized....DND has asked for and recieved approval to bring us up to 70,000 reg force pers and 30,000 res....(and i'll bet my life savings it won't cost the tax payer 250 bil to do that).....well under the majority of NATO members numbers... we do after all have the largest coastline and second largest continent, and have renewed our interest in our north....

Now is when we will find out who really supports the troops, or not...Yes it will cost us all some more funds to increase our numbers, but not these numbersn not even close.....and we need these numbers not so we can conquor the world but so we can have a break and perhaps get reaquinted with our families, for more than a couple months...

Troops levels today, force already serving troops to constantly rotate in and out of missions, to the piont they are getting exhausted, The liberal government deemed that each solider needs to be in Canada atleast one year before reploying....what a crook of shit....most are coming home from tour, only to have a couple of months of then resume training for the next mission.....

military spending.

Edited September 25, 2008 by Army Guy

[eyeball]

I have to admit, I am enjoying watching the death spasms of the liberal party this election.

This is what the Liberal party truly needed.

No, this is what Canada truely needed.

With any luck Canada's natural majority will manage to actually reform itself instead of just re-arraging the deck chairs like the Conservatives did.

[White Doors]

No, this is what Canada truely needed.

With any luck Canada's natural majority will manage to actually reform itself instead of just re-arraging the deck chairs like the Conservatives did.

If they don't do it soon the CPC may end up being the natural governing party.

[g_bambino]

What I find interesting is the fact that in the "Harper does it again" thread Liberal supporters are back on the hidden agenda/scary scary scary bandwagon for no justifiable reason yet right here is a perfect example of Liberal hidden agendas. This example is however convieniently overlooked by Liberal supporters.

That seems to be because it's politically incorrect to say that the Liberals can do wrong; the atmosphere has become such that if you say you are against the Liberals, you must therefore be against smiling immigrants, abused women, prancing gays, lesbain moms, oppressed First Peoples, creative artists, peace, rainbows, and teddy bears. Being opposed to any Liberal policy has become synonymous with being anti-Canadian.

[wulf42]

That seems to be because it's politically incorrect to say that the Liberals can do wrong; the atmosphere has become such that if you say you are against the Liberals, you must therefore be against smiling immigrants, abused women, prancing gays, lesbain moms, oppressed First Peoples, creative artists, peace, rainbows, and teddy bears. Being opposed to any Liberal policy has become synonymous with being anti-Canadian.

You hit the nail on the head.........the Liberal party needs to dissappear....their simplied rosie world attitudes are no longer accepted or tolerated.....its time to turn Canada into a strong country that has a strong Military and a country that is hard on crime including these young punks who literally get away with murder under the Liberals ...Harper has tried to get rid of the young offenders act or at least change it but the Liberals would say "oh your being to hard on them they are just babies", makes me sick actually.... throw the little bastards in jail and leave em there ....see how tough they are with the big boys for 25 years or so.........!

[fellowtraveller]

I think the big push for our military, or one of them, will come soon as Canada tries to exercise sovereignty in the North/Arctic.

If we don't act tough and be tough, the US and Russia will simply take what looks to be massive resource reserves for themselves.

Yeah, yeah I know we can talk a mean streak, but when push comes to shove you'd better be willing and able to push and shove back.

[eyeball]

If they don't do it soon the CPC may end up being the natural governing party.

On the basis of maybe 37% (if they're lucky) of the popular vote? There is nothing more un-natural than a 37% majority.

[g_bambino]

On the basis of maybe 37% (if they're lucky) of the popular vote? There is nothing more un-natural than a 37% majority.

It's quite natural in a more than two party system.

[White Doors]

It's quite natural in a more than two party system.

Despite how sour it may taste on some people's tongues.

[g_bambino]

You hit the nail on the head.........the Liberal party needs to dissappear....their simplied rosie world attitudes are no longer accepted or tolerated.....its time to turn Canada into a strong country that has a strong Military and a country that is hard on crime including these young punks who literally get away with murder under the Liberals ...Harper has tried to get rid of the young offenders act or at least change it but the Liberals would say "oh your being to hard on them they are just babies", makes me sick actually.... throw the little bastards in jail and leave em there ....see how tough they are with the big boys for 25 years or so.........!

Even if the attitudes of those in the Liberal party aren't all that rosy, they still present them as such. Hence, Canadian troops can be sent into a conflict, but it's painted as a "peacekeeping mission." The Conservative Party, on the other hand, doesn't seem to mince words like that. Regard two differing perceptions around one conflict: "the Liberals sent troops to Afghanistan, this was a NATO mission, they are peacekeepers, the Liberals are global-minded and like peace," versus: "the Conservatives kept said troops in Afghanistan, this was as puppets of George Bush, they are at war, the Conservatives are US loving war mongers." Tricky, eh?

Edited September 25, 2008 by g_bambino

[g_bambino]

That seems to be because it's politically incorrect to say that the Liberals can do wrong; the atmosphere has become such that if you say you are against the Liberals, you must therefore be against smiling immigrants, abused women, prancing gays, lesbain moms, oppressed First Peoples, creative artists, peace, rainbows, and teddy bears. Being opposed to any Liberal policy has become synonymous with being anti-Canadian.

And, ironically enough, here's Bob Hepburn in today's Toronto Star:

In fact, small-l liberalism remains strong in Canada.

Polls consistently show we are a compassionate nation, strongly supporting universal medicare, tough environmental laws and significant foreign aid. We back same-sex marriage, abortion and a ban on capital punishment, issues on which conservatives find themselves opposed to the mainstream.

The left and centre-left want more money to fight poverty, to help natives, to create more daycare spaces. They back racial and gender equality, multiculturalism and don't consider the phrase "politically correct" to be a bad thing.

Harper's goal a right-wing Canada

Note the final sentence.

Edited September 25, 2008 by g_bambino

[wulf42]

"the Conservatives kept said troops in Afghanistan, this was as puppets of George Bush, they are at war, the Conservatives are US loving war mongers." Tricky, eh?

I have to laugh when i hear the Liberals and their anti-usa nonsense...when if it were not for the Americans being beside us for the last 65 years or so...you would be speaking Russian or German a whole lot better than you likely do now..........the Americans are our allies and trading partner....... and until Canada smartens up and has a useful ,forceful armed force of its own we will remain the laughing stock of the world and rely on big brother next store to protect us!..........more reasons for Liberals never ever to be allowed in power again with any luck in the new year Canada will have a total Majority conservative Goverment and the Americans will have McCain as their new President .....maybe North America might have a chance.

Edited September 25, 2008 by wulf42

[Army Guy]

Heres an interesting article about what the cons have done in regards to arts and culture.

most have actually have had thier budgets increased....but i guess thats not good enough for the liberals....what is enough , and what is more important....you decide....

arts and crafts

[Smallc]

Do people honestly have to be so partisan and just paint the other side with one wide stroke?

Edited September 25, 2008 by Smallc