“CAF – Canadian Armed Forces”

National security is the bedrock upon which a country’s sovereignty and stability rest, yet Canada finds itself alarmingly ill-prepared to address escalating global threats or safeguard its borders. Decades of neglect and underfunding have left the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in disarray, compromising our national security and diminishing Canada’s global standing.

I spent much of my career serving in the CAF, and its current state is simply unacceptable. Canada must urgently reassess its priorities to rebuild a robust military capable of meeting modern challenges.

Drones are now an integral part of the way conflicts are waged but Canada’s military is lagging behind in advances made to this crucial tool of modern warfare.

In November, the Department of National Defence said it does not intend on buying first-person view drones, also known as FPVs. These affordable drones allow the pilot to see as if they are inside the drone in real-time, usually through a headset, and are prized for their precision.

For a time in the 2010s, it looked like Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government was committed to investing in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). In 2017, as part of a major foreign policy statement, then-Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced a new defence policy: “Strong, Secure, Engaged.” Canada was to be strong at home, secure in North America, and engaged in the world.

The government promised to increase spending on defence from a paltry 1 percent of GDP to 1.4 per cent by 2024, to buy advanced fighter jets and build surface frigates, and to grow the regular forces to 71,500 troops. While most of this sounded good, none of this lofty rhetoric was achieved. Current Defence Minister Bill Blair has admitted the CAF is short some 16,500 troops, and the Parliamentary Budget Office puts spending at just 1.29 percent of GDP, far below our NATO commitment of 2 percent. Some defence analysts consider it unlikely the Trudeau government ever intended to take serious action.

National security is the bedrock upon which a country’s sovereignty and stability rest, yet Canada finds itself alarmingly ill-prepared to address escalating global threats or safeguard its borders.

Decades of neglect and underfunding have left the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in disarray, compromising our national security and diminishing Canada’s global standing. I spent much of my career serving in the CAF, and its current state is simply unacceptable. Canada must urgently reassess its priorities to rebuild a robust military capable of meeting modern challenges.

Canada’s military has been actively pushing a woke pro-LGBT agenda on the world stage, with the latest example being its deployment of “task force gender advisors” internationally in war-hit nations, such as Haiti and Ukraine.

The “gender advisors” initiative is noted in the 2024 Departmental Report of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). This has resulted in it drawing a sharp rebuke from veterans who wonder why the military is spending money on pushing the LGBT agenda abroad.

As we enter the holiday period, “peace” is very much top of mind. The Finnish celebrate “Christmas Peace” each year to formally announce the beginning of the season. Dating from the 13th century, the tradition encourages people to be respectful and kind: harsher penalties were once imposed on criminals for offences during the Christmas Peace. It is too bad that only one part of the year is used to remind us of the importance of peace. It should be something we pray for all year round.

The percentage of navy and army equipment that is supposed to be ready for training and operations has continued to decline, warns a new report from the Department of National Defence.

A lack of money and staff as well as aging equipment were the cause of the problems, according the Departmental Results Report 2023-2024. “There is a risk that DND/CAF may have difficulty maintaining its materiel capabilities at the right level to support operations,” the report, released Dec. 17, pointed out.

If there’s one thing Canada’s premiers have always agreed on, it’s that the federal government needs to respect provincial jurisdiction.

If there’s a second thing they now agree on, it’s that (notwithstanding their belief that governments should mind their own business) the federal government should spend substantially more on national defence — not least because doing so might appease the incoming president of the United States.

“He wants us to meet our 2 per cent NATO spending commitment,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in an interview with the CBC’s Power & Politics on Tuesday, referring to Donald Trump.