- Reaction score
- 5,943
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Despite my protestations elsewhere in Army.ca about inefficient, indeed inept procurement policies and practices, riddled, most often, with political pork-barrelling, I think we all have to accept two facts:
1. Canadians, as a general rule, are ill-educated and, in matters of defence, industry and economics, nearly illiterate. The consequence is that they care less about just how much of their money is wasted, sometimes stolen would not be too strong a word, just as long as they can believe that they are getting some immediate, local benefit. It is vital to remember that Canadian have to overarching defining characteristics: greed and envy. They covet everything that the better-offs (usually Americans or Torontonians) have but they reject the notion that they should have to work for it.
2. Canadians vote.
It is good news that DND is going to get some (maybe even quite a bit) of what is on its shopping list. It is too much to expect that a minority government is not going to follow time honoured Canadian traditions and use major procurement, especially defence procurement, to buy votes with the voters' own money.
Ship building in the St Lawrence and aircraft manufacturing in Québec are, by now, considered to be divine rights in la belle province and amongst a large percentage of the civil servants in Ottawa. Neither group can conceive of doing business any other way. I am sure that we will get suitable, albeit fairly expensive, ice-capable warships and a JSS or big honkin' ship or whatever, from Industrie Davie at Levis – with whatever production Davie cannot manage being subcontracted to Atlantic or Pacific yards. I recall, many years ago, that my old boss (NDHQ in the late '70s) Terry Liston (R22eR) had quite a (uniformed) cheering section when (in the mid/late '80s) he worked for Davie and was trying to convince Ottawa of a need for a SMART ship (Strategic Multi-role Auxilliary Resupply and Transport – I think). I cannot remember much about it except that it would allow us to deploy a large (1,000+ soldiers - 200+/- vehicles) battle group anywhere in the world and insert it by a mix of landing craft (conventional and hovercraft) and ship-borne helicopters; just, I think, what General Hillier wants 20 years later.
I am equally sure that the air force will find some good uses for some Bombardier aircraft. I also recall that some (quite a few) of my air force colleagues were, in the '80s and '90s, pressing the centre to design and buy Canadair and de Havilland aircraft for a variety of SAR, utility, transport, coastal patrol and EW tasks. I'm sure that faction is still alive and well.
1. Canadians, as a general rule, are ill-educated and, in matters of defence, industry and economics, nearly illiterate. The consequence is that they care less about just how much of their money is wasted, sometimes stolen would not be too strong a word, just as long as they can believe that they are getting some immediate, local benefit. It is vital to remember that Canadian have to overarching defining characteristics: greed and envy. They covet everything that the better-offs (usually Americans or Torontonians) have but they reject the notion that they should have to work for it.
2. Canadians vote.
It is good news that DND is going to get some (maybe even quite a bit) of what is on its shopping list. It is too much to expect that a minority government is not going to follow time honoured Canadian traditions and use major procurement, especially defence procurement, to buy votes with the voters' own money.
Ship building in the St Lawrence and aircraft manufacturing in Québec are, by now, considered to be divine rights in la belle province and amongst a large percentage of the civil servants in Ottawa. Neither group can conceive of doing business any other way. I am sure that we will get suitable, albeit fairly expensive, ice-capable warships and a JSS or big honkin' ship or whatever, from Industrie Davie at Levis – with whatever production Davie cannot manage being subcontracted to Atlantic or Pacific yards. I recall, many years ago, that my old boss (NDHQ in the late '70s) Terry Liston (R22eR) had quite a (uniformed) cheering section when (in the mid/late '80s) he worked for Davie and was trying to convince Ottawa of a need for a SMART ship (Strategic Multi-role Auxilliary Resupply and Transport – I think). I cannot remember much about it except that it would allow us to deploy a large (1,000+ soldiers - 200+/- vehicles) battle group anywhere in the world and insert it by a mix of landing craft (conventional and hovercraft) and ship-borne helicopters; just, I think, what General Hillier wants 20 years later.
I am equally sure that the air force will find some good uses for some Bombardier aircraft. I also recall that some (quite a few) of my air force colleagues were, in the '80s and '90s, pressing the centre to design and buy Canadair and de Havilland aircraft for a variety of SAR, utility, transport, coastal patrol and EW tasks. I'm sure that faction is still alive and well.