Vanguard Magazine

T he Canadian Armed Forces' 2017 budget for equipment purchases suffered a big hit, and veterans injured in the line of duty were left wondering if they would ever see the option of receiving life-long pensions after the federal budget was announced by the Liberal government on March 22. The budget tabled in the House of Commons by Finance Min- ister Bill Morneau included an additional $624 million to be spent over several years on veterans' programs aimed at easing the transition to civilian life of former soldiers. Still, it might seem to some as ironic that while the Liberals were the only party during the latest elections that promised to re-introduce the option of pension for life for veterans injured in uniform, they were silent on it during the budget announcement. The pension-for-life op- tion was something injured veterans could count on, until it was replaced in 2006 by a lump-sum payment bundled with career training programs aimed at securing income replacement. The CAF will also have to defer some of its planned equipment purchases. The government took away $8.48 billion from the DND's equipment budget, but promised to pencil it in again and spend the money over the next 20 years. This shift, according to David Perry, Senior Analyst at the Cana- dian Global Affairs Institute, is the "largest ever re-profiling of the money earmarked to buy new kit and buildings for the military." Perry, writing on the CGAI website pointed out that this real- location of funds from now to the future "is bad news" for three particular reasons: 1 The budget indicates that either the defence procurement system the Liberals inherited has not improved over the last year, or that the Trudeau government is choosing to remove the funding. 2 While defence funding has been shifted before, never have defence dollars been removed more than six years into the fu- ture. This budget removes defence funding allocated out through 2035-36, taking away future procurement funding that was scarce to start with. 3 The budget signals that Canadians should expect their new defence policy to reflect a military with significantly less mon- ey than it had prior to March 22, 2017. These are all good points to consider, especially since the new Defence Policy Review is due to be released shortly. This policy document will provide the direction that the Trudeau govern- ment wants for Canada's defence, which looks like and strongly suggests a policy that will lower Canada's level of defence. There is one bright spot: a $184 million in the budget for de- fence; however, that money represents funds from the previous Conservative government, which the Liberals had promised they would not spend. The CBC also noted that announced reallocation of funds for such items as the Air Forces new fixed-wing search and rescue planes (FWSAR), and upgrades to the Army's new light armoured vehicles (LAV III's) programs have already commenced. "That explanation makes no sense," said Perry in an interview with CBC News. "That whole description is incoherent, so I can- not make heads nor tails of what they are saying." He said the budget is in effect taking away money from the military and "pre- tending to give it back several decades in the future." While the Liberals claim they are making progress on benefits for veterans, a report from the Canadian Press said the budget appears to be sending a "strong signal that the old pension system won't be coming back." The Liberals are deferring the funding to tweak the budget's overall numbers at the military's expense, according to NDP Leader Tom Mulcair. "Canadians have every right to be concerned about that, be- cause we are in desperate need of new ships for our Navy, we're in desperate need of new fighter aircraft for our Air Force, and there's no way that with the type of budget we've seen here that they're going to be getting them," he said. Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "Great battles are won with artillery." Today, we are faced with many battles, ranging from cyber to biological, chemical to boots on the ground. To effec- tively defend our sovereignty, we need to stock up on "artillery" to support the brave men and women in Canadian Armed Forces, so that they can be well-equipped to engage the enemy on all fronts. But that is at risk with this major cut in defence spending. The 2017 defence budget does not provide a sense of confi- dence to our military and citizens alike, and is bad for both the DND and our veterans. As Canadians, we all need to be con- cerned about this reallocation of funds that can negatively affect our military from having the most modern and sophisticated equipment needed to keep our soldiers and nation safe. T The lAST WorD Bad for DND and Veterans by nestor Arellano and Marcello Sukhdeo BudgeT 2017: 46 AprIL/MAY 2017 www.vanguardcanada.com

• Cover