So, following up on a recent post I did on spending and retention within the military, I just saw this article pop up in the news earlier today, and heard the various commentary on the radio this afternoon.

More spending, more troops, and more investments in our Canadian Armed Forces.

An increase (generally a good thing) of $13.9 billion.

“Defence policy promises boost to defence budget and plans for armed drones…

The Liberal government’s new defence policy lays out a plan to increase the defence budget by 70 per cent over the next decade to $32.7 billion. It is a mixture of new and previously committed cash.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-sajjan-garneau-defence-policy-1.4149473

However, its all only fully kicking in after the next election and/or some time within a 10-year window.

Really???  REALLY?!?!?!?!  REALLY?!?!?!

A promise of an investment down the road is not an investment right now (when that’s what is needed).  It’s promises of future increases (maybe – the track record isn’t good), and not necessarily and not mostly increases right now (which is what we need).  This announcement is kicking the ball down the field for an easy play, rather than making tough choices and deciding on a workable play RIGHT NOW.  And it’s still nowhere near raising our defence spending from a paltry 0.9% of GDP to the 2% that our NATO allies have requested and which we should be committing to, especially in this day and age.

It’s more of the same from government announcements – Liberal or Conservative, it doesn’t really seem to matter.  Much ado about nothing.

Thanks, but don’t do us any favours.