New Ministers of National Defence in Canada

In article ,
says...

Andrew Chaplin wrote:

:Brian Allardice wrote:
:
: as far as I know, no. And in an instant globe and mail poll, the military
: came near the bottom of our priorities. Bloody good for us!
:
:The Canadian public, if asked whether to spend money on guns or
:butter, will ask for K-Y Jelly because they don't understand the
:question.

Or perhaps they just want to make the screwing their government tends
to give them a bit more comfortable....

Sure, Fred..... Bend over for Boeing and Haliburton..... Gotta love that free
enterprise....


Cheers,
dba

"Carter Lee" wrote in message
...
J_Harmeson wrote:
"Carter Lee" wrote in message
...

Slow down, he was sworn in only today. :^)

Carter



+ Christmas break, they be back Jan/Feb, the an election could be
called
before April.


Actually the first cabinet meeting is in progress right now. It
started at 0900 hrs today, 13 Dec 03.

Carter

Correct, but wouldn't that be like a big group hug before the break, not
much will happen (in my opinion) until the new year or election.

J_Harmeson wrote:
"Carter Lee" wrote in message
...

J_Harmeson wrote:

"Carter Lee" wrote in message
...


Slow down, he was sworn in only today. :^)

Carter



+ Christmas break, they be back Jan/Feb, the an election could be

called

before April.



Actually the first cabinet meeting is in progress right now. It
started at 0900 hrs today, 13 Dec 03.

Carter


Correct, but wouldn't that be like a big group hug before the break,

On a Saturday morning?

not
much will happen (in my opinion) until the new year or election.

I'll wait and see.

Carter

Peter Skelton wrote:

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 13:54:28 GMT, Carter Lee
wrote:


Dewey wrote:


agreed...

we've seen and heard all this rhetoric before, and it will get worse before
getting better.

Chretien was no friend to the military. Personally, I'm glad he is history.

I can't think of a single PM, who in a space of 10 years, almost
single-handily brought the military to it's knees.

I can, Trudeau and it took him less than ten years.

Actually it was Trudeau who started it.


I think unification occurred on a previous watch.

Yes It did, I was there. That gave Trudeau something already
weakened to destroy. Reminded me of a bull fight.

Carter

Andrew Chaplin wrote in
:

The Canadian public, if asked whether to spend money on guns or
butter, will ask for K-Y Jelly because they don't understand the
question.

When formulating a Canadian defense policy, there is the slight practical
problem that the only threat to Canadian soverignty is posed by the
fascist minions to the south of our border, against whom no defense save
for nuclear weapons is economically practical. Further, the development
of a nucelar deterrant would prompt an American first strike--scuse me,
'liberation'. This is obviously a catch 22.

Similiarly, protecting Canadian interests abroad would require a far
greater funding committment than is economically practical. Force
projection is not cheap and reconstructing a capability to deliver much
more than a single flagbearer into areas where _our_ interests[1] are
challenged costs much more than we can afford without gutting Canadian
society to the point that we become an American or DPRK-style weapon state
that concentrates all economic output into the defense of values and
ideologies that do not exist at home.

On the one hand, there's nothing to be gained by spending so much on guns
that there's no butter left to protect. On the other hand, there's no
point in spending so little on guns that the capabilities provided are
essentially useless. Unfortunately for Canadian defense policy, the size
of the Canadian economy is such that there is no happy medium between
these points: providing a meaningful military capability would mean
slashing civil spending to the extent that there would be no meaningful
Canada left to defend.



[1] Our interests are not the same as supporting the American domestic
need to conduct expansionary wars on a regular basis.

--
Coridon Henshaw - http://www3.telus.net/csbh - "I have sadly come to the
conclusion that the Bush administration will go to any lengths to deny
reality." -- Charley Reese

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 17:12:20 GMT, Carter Lee
wrote:

Peter Skelton wrote:

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 13:54:28 GMT, Carter Lee
wrote:


Dewey wrote:


agreed...

we've seen and heard all this rhetoric before, and it will get worse before
getting better.

Chretien was no friend to the military. Personally, I'm glad he is history.

I can't think of a single PM, who in a space of 10 years, almost
single-handily brought the military to it's knees.

I can, Trudeau and it took him less than ten years.

Actually it was Trudeau who started it.


I think unification occurred on a previous watch.

Yes It did, I was there. That gave Trudeau something already
weakened to destroy. Reminded me of a bull fight.

Nice image, mind if I quote you in lectures?

Peter Skelton

Peter Skelton wrote:
On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 17:12:20 GMT, Carter Lee
wrote:


Peter Skelton wrote:


On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 13:54:28 GMT, Carter Lee
wrote:



Dewey wrote:



agreed...

we've seen and heard all this rhetoric before, and it will get worse before
getting better.

Chretien was no friend to the military. Personally, I'm glad he is history.

I can't think of a single PM, who in a space of 10 years, almost
single-handily brought the military to it's knees.

I can, Trudeau and it took him less than ten years.

Actually it was Trudeau who started it.


I think unification occurred on a previous watch.

Yes It did, I was there. That gave Trudeau something already
weakened to destroy. Reminded me of a bull fight.


Nice image, mind if I quote you in lectures?

Be my guest.

Carter

"Coridon Henshaw @ (TH+ESE) sympatico.ca)" (chenshawREMOVE wrote
in message ...
Andrew Chaplin wrote in
:

The Canadian public, if asked whether to spend money on guns or
butter, will ask for K-Y Jelly because they don't understand the
question.


Big snip of poorly informed and thought out babble.

Dear Coridon please refer to the above comment. Oh and by the way most
frequent contributors to this NG have a personal experience with and
strong knowledge of Canada's military.

Allen


Coridon Henshaw - http://www3.telus.net/csbh - "I have sadly come to
the
conclusion that the Bush administration will go to any lengths to deny
reality." -- Charley Reese

So I'll retract what I said at 12/12/2003.

They acually worked, canceled a program or two, they work again on
Sunday, hitting the books. good start, maybe.

In article ,
says...

Peter Skelton wrote:
On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 17:12:20 GMT, Carter Lee
wrote:


Peter Skelton wrote:


On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 13:54:28 GMT, Carter Lee
wrote:



Dewey wrote:



agreed...

we've seen and heard all this rhetoric before, and it will get worse
before
getting better.

Chretien was no friend to the military. Personally, I'm glad he is
history.

I can't think of a single PM, who in a space of 10 years, almost
single-handily brought the military to it's knees.

I can, Trudeau and it took him less than ten years.

Actually it was Trudeau who started it.


I think unification occurred on a previous watch.

Yes It did, I was there. That gave Trudeau something already
weakened to destroy. Reminded me of a bull fight.


Nice image, mind if I quote you in lectures?

Be my guest.

Unification was and is a damned good idea...

Cheers,
dba