And for the first time in four years, a larger proportion of Canadians feel the military’s priority should be domestic operations, such as responding to natural disasters instead of deploying overseas.
Analysts say the findings mark a return to the public’s traditional apathy toward the military after years of robust support — a development that will be a cause for concern within the Defence Department, especially as it faces pressure to rein in operations and spending.
The survey was conducted by a private company contracted by National Defence and comprised two parts: a telephone questionnaire given to 1,520 Canadian between Feb. 16 and March 2; and 10 focus groups held across the country a few weeks earlier.
The findings, which were published in a final report to the department in April and only recently made public, found Canadians hold almost overwhelmingly positive views of the military.
Yet only 38 per cent of respondents said they had recently seen, read or heard something about the Canadian Forces — a “significant” decline from the 57 per cent who gave the same answer the year before.
“(This) continues a declining trend from previous years,” the report reads. “Since 2008, the proportion of Canadians who recall having seen or heard something about the CF has dropped by almost half.”
Analysts say it is neither an accident nor a surprise that awareness of the military’s activities have been declining in recent years as the mission in Afghanistan has been scaled back and turned in focus from combat to training, with no fatalities in almost a year.
In fact, David Bercuson, director of the University of Calgary’s Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, said he expected such a decline in awareness — and a coinciding decline in support — as the Afghan mission ran its course.
“I never kidded myself that the new interest in the military was going to be something lasting,” he said.
Last year also saw the Canadian Forces deploying fighter aircraft and navy frigates to help NATO’s air-and-sea campaign in Libya.
The seven-month mission was capped by a lavish, $800,000 ceremony on Parliament Hill organized by the federal government in an attempt to highlight the military’s contributions to the public.
“The government made a big effort to publicize it,” said University of Ottawa defence expert Philippe Lagasse.
But “Libya was rarely mentioned” by respondents, the survey report said.
Rather, for the first time since 2008, more respondents indicated they wanted the military to focus on domestic operations, such as responding to natural disasters and protecting Canadian sovereignty, rather than undertaking international missions.
“That would probably trouble many people in the Defence Department,” Lagasse said,
The military has established small support hubs in different countries around the world and laid out plans to purchase a great deal of equipment, including F-35 stealth fighters, new ships and armoured vehicles.
Lagasse said most of this is contingent on the Canadian Forces deploying on international missions, but the results indicate the public puts its priority on the military getting the job done at home first and foremost.
“The department keeps planning more on expeditionary,” he said, “and there is this underlying disconnect.”
National Defence is facing more than $1.1 billion in spending cuts by 2014-15. This is over and above the $1.1 billion the government had already planned to slash from the department’s $21-billion budget this fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the Harper government has confirmed it is reviewing its vaunted plan to invest $490 billion over 20 years to rebuild the Canadian Forces because the plan is no longer financially feasible.
This comes as a number of procurement projects have gone off the rails and there are concerns delays and cost overruns will cut into operational capabilities.
Most survey respondents indicated they didn’t feel funding for the military was a waste, and few said they felt it was receiving too much funding.
Bercuson said this was a positive sign, but he said he worried the lack of awareness and what he said is the public’s return to “a state of apathy” toward the military will make it easier to impose cuts if and when it comes against spending issues of more immediate concern, such as health care.
“If governments choose to try to solve their budgetary problems on the backs of the defence budget,” he said, “they will do it easily because there won’t be anybody out there except for specialized groups that is going to raise fuss about it.”
The survey results are considered accurate within plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Lee Berthiaume
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