Defence Minister Peter MacKay was suffering from a bout of double pneumonia last Thursday when Canada's military budget was chopped by more than one billion dollars by the Harper government.
But with the help of a third round of antibiotics, the defence minister sounded unexpectedly cheerful and upbeat when reached by telephone before visiting Halifax's Irving Shipyard, where some new warships for the Royal Canadian Navy are to be built.
Some have looked at the defence cuts as a case of the glass being half-empty and a sign that the Harper government was backing away from its fairly robust stance on security and defence spending. MacKay's perspective was that the glass was half-full and would rise again.
"The budget at National Defence is solid and I expect it will continue to grow year-byyear," after the cuts, the minister said, explaining that an annual escalator clause of two per cent, written into the Canada First Defence Strategy of 2008, remained in place. Although the overall defence budget was being cut by about 5.5 per cent, "Why that clause is important is that it sees our budget rise in the coming years," he said. "It is still in effect, absolutely ... I believe defence is on very solid footing."
No core capabilities of the armed forces had been cut as result of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's austerity budget, MacKay said, adding that "it is on the civilian side of the shop where this is going to be felt, first and foremost."
An important factor that would lessen the impact of the cuts was that "we are not spending as much on active operations like Afghanistan," he said.
There were other reasons why his outlook remained confident, the minister said.
For the first time, "we are able to carry forward deferred payments on some of the capital projects. Things like the maritime helicopter program, where money was budgeted for a certain year and because the helicopters did not arrive that year, the money we had not spent in that fiscal year had to go back (to Treasury Board). We have a bit more flexibility now."
As by far the highest spending federal department, national defence had taken by far the biggest dollar hit in Thursday's budget. But "what seemed to be missed by everyone is that we've had a capital injection of one billion dollars a year into defence every year since we took office" in 2006, MacKay said. That calculation did not include the cost of some capital programs, he said.
The budget was light on specific details about when and where cuts would be made and how to configure them, and so was MacKay during the interview. But such decisions would be mindful of "the reality of where we are needed in the future and what operations might be required," he said. "The readiness piece is under a constant state of examination."
One of the sources that had been drawn on when considering the cuts was retired Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie's report on transformation, he said.
It called for steep staff cuts to military personnel and civilians at National Defence Headquarters and far fewer civilian contractors, as well as adjustments to the force's current command structure.
The cuts generally had been well accepted by Canadians and those who worked in his own department because they were "pragmatists," MacKay said. "They realize the defence budget has been given a lot of favourable attention in recent years but like every department, there is a need to make certain adjustments and efficiencies" to enable the country to improve its balance sheet."
Although the government remained deeply concerned about the Royal Canadian Navy's problems in putting four ex-British diesel electric submarines into service that were bought 12 years ago, MacKay said that for the first time in a long time, there was some optimism that progress was being made.
"It has been frustrating and there have been setbacks, but (Vice-Admiral Paul Maddison) assures me that it is starting to come ahead quickly now," MacKay said.
"He is quite confident that we are going to have these boats in the water quite soon.
"I am told that they fired their test torpedoes and hope to have one of the subs at the RIMPAC exercises (off Hawaii) this summer. There is every reason to believe that they are finally making progress."
The government's other military hot potato is the potential purchase of the "fifthgeneration" joint fighter to replace Canada's 30-year-old fleet of F-18s. The stealthy new warplane has attracted controversy because of technical delays and spiralling costs, with estimates of the price per aircraft ranging between $65 million and $150 million.
"It doesn't fit the storyline to write anything positive about this project," MacKay said, laughing softly. "It seems that a constant negative din has arisen.
"The primary concern that I have as minister of National Defence is that we have no operational gaps, that we have the best aircraft for the best price and this is the way we've approached it." (Some of MacKay's other comments on the Joint Strike Fighter will be included in an upcoming column.)
It will be five years this August that MacKay, the member of Parliament for Nova Scotia's Central Nova, took over the defence portfolio.
That already has made him Canada's longest-serving defence minister in many years. There has been speculation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper may move him to another ministry when the next cabinet shuffle is announced.
"I know full well I am a temporary office holder," he said, without being asked to comment on such speculation. "I want to look back on my time at this department as having made some good decisions to ensure that the CF remains the most respected and capable institution that we have in Canada. That is my goal, plain and simple."
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Matthew Fisher
But with the help of a third round of antibiotics, the defence minister sounded unexpectedly cheerful and upbeat when reached by telephone before visiting Halifax's Irving Shipyard, where some new warships for the Royal Canadian Navy are to be built.
Some have looked at the defence cuts as a case of the glass being half-empty and a sign that the Harper government was backing away from its fairly robust stance on security and defence spending. MacKay's perspective was that the glass was half-full and would rise again.
"The budget at National Defence is solid and I expect it will continue to grow year-byyear," after the cuts, the minister said, explaining that an annual escalator clause of two per cent, written into the Canada First Defence Strategy of 2008, remained in place. Although the overall defence budget was being cut by about 5.5 per cent, "Why that clause is important is that it sees our budget rise in the coming years," he said. "It is still in effect, absolutely ... I believe defence is on very solid footing."
No core capabilities of the armed forces had been cut as result of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's austerity budget, MacKay said, adding that "it is on the civilian side of the shop where this is going to be felt, first and foremost."
An important factor that would lessen the impact of the cuts was that "we are not spending as much on active operations like Afghanistan," he said.
There were other reasons why his outlook remained confident, the minister said.
For the first time, "we are able to carry forward deferred payments on some of the capital projects. Things like the maritime helicopter program, where money was budgeted for a certain year and because the helicopters did not arrive that year, the money we had not spent in that fiscal year had to go back (to Treasury Board). We have a bit more flexibility now."
As by far the highest spending federal department, national defence had taken by far the biggest dollar hit in Thursday's budget. But "what seemed to be missed by everyone is that we've had a capital injection of one billion dollars a year into defence every year since we took office" in 2006, MacKay said. That calculation did not include the cost of some capital programs, he said.
The budget was light on specific details about when and where cuts would be made and how to configure them, and so was MacKay during the interview. But such decisions would be mindful of "the reality of where we are needed in the future and what operations might be required," he said. "The readiness piece is under a constant state of examination."
One of the sources that had been drawn on when considering the cuts was retired Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie's report on transformation, he said.
It called for steep staff cuts to military personnel and civilians at National Defence Headquarters and far fewer civilian contractors, as well as adjustments to the force's current command structure.
The cuts generally had been well accepted by Canadians and those who worked in his own department because they were "pragmatists," MacKay said. "They realize the defence budget has been given a lot of favourable attention in recent years but like every department, there is a need to make certain adjustments and efficiencies" to enable the country to improve its balance sheet."
Although the government remained deeply concerned about the Royal Canadian Navy's problems in putting four ex-British diesel electric submarines into service that were bought 12 years ago, MacKay said that for the first time in a long time, there was some optimism that progress was being made.
"It has been frustrating and there have been setbacks, but (Vice-Admiral Paul Maddison) assures me that it is starting to come ahead quickly now," MacKay said.
"He is quite confident that we are going to have these boats in the water quite soon.
"I am told that they fired their test torpedoes and hope to have one of the subs at the RIMPAC exercises (off Hawaii) this summer. There is every reason to believe that they are finally making progress."
The government's other military hot potato is the potential purchase of the "fifthgeneration" joint fighter to replace Canada's 30-year-old fleet of F-18s. The stealthy new warplane has attracted controversy because of technical delays and spiralling costs, with estimates of the price per aircraft ranging between $65 million and $150 million.
"It doesn't fit the storyline to write anything positive about this project," MacKay said, laughing softly. "It seems that a constant negative din has arisen.
"The primary concern that I have as minister of National Defence is that we have no operational gaps, that we have the best aircraft for the best price and this is the way we've approached it." (Some of MacKay's other comments on the Joint Strike Fighter will be included in an upcoming column.)
It will be five years this August that MacKay, the member of Parliament for Nova Scotia's Central Nova, took over the defence portfolio.
That already has made him Canada's longest-serving defence minister in many years. There has been speculation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper may move him to another ministry when the next cabinet shuffle is announced.
"I know full well I am a temporary office holder," he said, without being asked to comment on such speculation. "I want to look back on my time at this department as having made some good decisions to ensure that the CF remains the most respected and capable institution that we have in Canada. That is my goal, plain and simple."
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Matthew Fisher
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