File Photo (Image Credit: The Canadian Press)

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Time to listen to the soldiers in the trenches

Sep 19, 2024 | 6:00 AM

FOR MANY YEARS, Canada has had the reputation for having the toughest combat forces on the planet. You still hear that said, but the shine is wearing off and our abysmal level of sound military planning has clouded over anything positive we’ve ever accomplished.

Our screwups go back a long way, but we have enough recent tactical goofs to fill more space than I’m allowed to here. Our fighting forces are not prepared to fight. Our equipment is shoddy and in no shape for combat.

Over the last three governments, our defence spending has languished well below the NATO guideline of two per cent of overall spending. In fact, we have the fourth-worst expenditure of all NATO countries. Our NATO allies are getting increasingly frustrated with us, and so they should be.

We now are providing our fighter pilots with training in other countries because we don’t have the resources here. We’re looking at new fighter planes which operate poorly in the far north, where they’re probably needed most. Our procurement policies are totally out of whack with reality. We can’t even buy sleeping bags that will keep us warm in the winter.

Who put these people in charge?

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Oh, there’s more. The spirit of our troops is poor, they have to put up with incompetence everywhere they turn. Inclusivity is a word I don’t think they have heard in our military. As well as the lack of security and defence resources, our international reputation has sunk to new levels which only diminishes the trust our allies place in us.

The CBC reported last year that the armed forces were short almost 16,000 bodies. Fifty per cent of our navy is not serviceable, meaning they are unable to be deployed. And we won’t even talk about those used submarines we bought so long ago that still are not functioning. Similar percentages hold true for both the army and air wings.

We have lost key personnel in critical positions because they just want to be rid of the stress of having to spread themselves too thin. And who would want to enlist when we don’t give them the equipment to protect themselves and stay warm in the winter, let alone not having the support resources to carry out any kind of real attack?

We need to get the military on the same page and get the politicians out of the “give me my share of the pie” mode and on board for the good of the country and not just their own little world.

Next thing you know, we’ll be buying electric vehicles to spend the winter at -50 C. Good luck with that.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.