“CAF – Canadian Armed Forces”

OTTAWA – The federal Liberal government’s plan to buy anti-aircraft missiles for Ukraine is prompting questions about why such equipment isn’t being bought for the Canadian Army.

The Army has been without weapons to defend Canadian troops from enemy aircraft, rockets and drones since the last of its anti-air weapons were retired in 2012, and efforts to acquire new ones have remained stuck in neutral for years.

Multiple Army commanders have described the lack of such weapons as a key deficiency for the Canadian military, including defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre, when he was the head of the Army in 2019.

Ottawa is a city of plans. Many plans. Sometimes you find there are plans to have a plan. But as the old Scottish poem says, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men often go awry.”

More than a decade ago, as Canada’s war in Afghanistan was grinding to its conclusion, a plan was drawn up to rebuild, refresh and re-equip the army for the future.

It withered and died over several years — a victim of changing defence fashions, budgets, inter-service and inter-departmental bureaucratic warfare and political indifference.

It might be a stretch to describe Gen. Wayne Eyre as a modern Cassandra.

Still, over the latter half of 2022, Canada’s top military commander delivered — in public and before House of Commons committees — increasingly stark warnings about the future geopolitical landscape, where the war between Russia and Ukraine could go and the intentions of other disruptive international actors, such as China.

Whether he’s been disbelieved or dismissed — like the Trojan priestess of Greek mythology — has depended largely on his audience.

OTTAWA – The head of the Canadian Army says his force is facing more demands at home and in Europe even as the number of soldiers under his command continues to shrink.

Lt.-Gen. Joe Paul says the squeeze is forcing the Army to take a closer look at some long-established assumptions and ways of doing things to see where it can be more efficient.

OTTAWA — Military police don’t know — or won’t say — how many of the dozens of cases involving criminal sexual behaviour referred to civilian counterparts over the past year have resulted in charges.

That has sparked criticism from some experts, who say such information is critical to knowing whether sending such cases to civilian authorities is having the intended effect.

Drinking water on board the Canadian navy’s new fleet of Arctic patrol ships is believed to be contaminated with lead, forcing the military to provide crews with bottled water.

… Last week this newspaper reported that HMCS Harry DeWolf will be out of service until April because of ongoing mechanical problems, but the military doesn’t yet have an idea how much repairs are going to cost taxpayers.

Defence Minister Anita Anand has unveiled what she describes as “an ambitious roadmap” to reform the Canadian Armed Forces’ culture amid what experts have called a sexual misconduct “crisis.”

In a new report tabled to Parliament on Tuesday, Anand said she had directed the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces to pursue “an all-hands on deck effort” to address the dozens of recommendations made by former Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour when she released her long-anticipated report into the culture of the Canadian military in May.

Sounds swell.

Louise Arbour accuses military of foot-dragging, blasts progress on misconduct reform

OTTAWA – Retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour accused military leaders of dragging their feet when it comes fighting sexual misconduct in the ranks on Tuesday, even as Defence Minister Anita Anand staked her reputation on their success or failure.

Arbour delivered her scathing indictment to the House of Commons defence committee six months after issuing dozens of recommendations to improve the military’s handling of inappropriate and criminal sexual behaviour.

A fighter pilot call sign at the heart of disciplinary actions against Royal Canadian Air Force officers was based on an abusive and derogatory comment against a female military member as well as the LGBTQ+ community.

Canada’s new Arctic patrol ship HMCS Harry DeWolf will be out of service until April because of ongoing mechanical problems, but the military doesn’t yet have an idea how much repairs are going to cost taxpayers.

We are going down a very dark road. Just how dark and bleak and utterly wretched that road is remains to be seen, but the glimpses we are getting reveals it to be verging on the edge of pitch black.

On Thursday, another Canadian veteran, Christine Gauthier, who is also a five-time world champion at the Paralympics, told how she was offered medical assistance in dying (MAID) as she tried to access care from the Veterans Affairs department.

The Titanic, says General Wayne Eyre, the Chief of the Defence Staff for the Canadian Armed Forces, is sinking.

The CAF is estimated to be short-staffed by about 10,000 members, Gen. Eyre said in October, and he wants to add 5,000 more to their ranks. To achieve this, he called for a “whole-of-society effort” for the military while it attempts to solve its recruitment and staffing problems. “We need to rebuild the Armed Forces, we need to get the numbers back up,” he said, “and we’ve got to do it with a sense of urgency and priority because it is affecting our ability to respond around the world.”

Wants to do away with uniforms and other traditions. That should work.