By Lieutenant (N) (ret’d) Paul Phillips
President, Royal United Services Institute of
Halifax NS
Mr.
Chairman, Committee Members:
The mission
of the Institute is to promote public awareness and understanding of the needs
of, and requirements for, an effective and viable Canadian Armed Force. We hold monthly meetings, normally with a
guest speaker and we tour defence and
related establishments in the Province.
We also have an active Strategic Affairs Committee that prepares papers
on relevant issues such as air and sea lift capabilities, sovereignty of our
waters and coast line and, preparedness in general.
We were
pleased to see the release of the Defence Policy Statement as part of the
International Policy Review; it was long overdue but welcomed nonetheless.
However, we
remain concerned about the current state of the Canadian Forces. As stated by a senior commander ---
shortfalls that contribute to skill fade, career stagnation and asset
deterioration.
The
announced $12.8 billion in new defence spending over five years is a
significant investment but the bulk of that funding will not kick in until
2009-2011. The Forces cannot wait that long. There is a reported $1 billion plus shortfall
in today’s operating budgets of the three services; in simple terms the three
services cannot do what the government has tasked them to do with what the
government has given them to do it with.
In point form
we submit a number of areas of concern to us:
1. We do not have the training cadre to handle an influx of 5,000 new recruits.
2. We do not have ice capable ships to provide arctic sovereignty patrols
3. There is no plan for nor is there a capability to build replacement ships for the 280 class Command and Control ships. These vessels are our admission slips to operations with the Americans.
4. We have ‘paper’ units such as the DART team which, in time of emergency have to be cobbled together from other units thereby further acerbating their personnel problems.
5. On a closer to home note, in Nova Scotia we have no means of carrying out any type of coastal reconnaissance from the land side.
6. The insistence that we buy Canadian in all areas of defence development and purchasing has been carried to a degree that only hampers timely procurement.
7. The need for a heavy airlift capability is paramount followed closely by a sealift capability. We cannot continue to beg off other nations and continue to call ourselves sovereign.
8. The world today requires forces in being. There is no build up time as in the past. The aforementioned personnel increase will not provide the operational commanders with the ability to maintain their units, be they armour, planes, ships or infantry, at an operational level for any extended period.
The Canadian Forces and our brother services, the Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Mounted Police are critical to the well being of the people of Canada. They deserve our full-hearted support in terms of material resources to carry out their missions and multitude of tasks.
These resources are needed today, not at some unspecified time in the future.
Thank you for the opportunity to present these brief comments.
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