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I don't see us getting kicked out out G7 (economic) or NATO - but whether we have any pull is another question (what are you going to do, act like Turkey when no one listens to us, or France?). The real issue is we were shut out of AUKUS - the apex of the military alliance.

I think we'll see more setups like AUKUS where Canada is just bypassed when new arrangements are made. Eventually, some of these current forums will be deprecated. But I guess we can still pretend to be important till that happens.
 
I think we'll see more setups like AUKUS where Canada is just bypassed when new arrangements are made. Eventually, some of these current forums will be deprecated.

Well we will see where Five Eyes goes. Though it must also be said that nothing is permanent if we get our act together and demonstrate our utility - but that requires performance, not platitudes.

First and foremost on my mind is our counterintelligence and counterinfluence efforts - we have a society uniquely vulnerable to threat actors (diverse and highly open - with significant - and electorally critical - communities vulnerable due to linkages with these actors). I would be cringing hard if I am an allied nation watching the current mess around political interference in our country.

AoD
 
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I guess frigates like the size of the new CSC program could theoretically be built on the great lakes as they are small enough to fit through the Seaway. In some ways perhaps it could make sense as it is closer to Canada's industrial base. I wonder where Doug is thinking this could happen.
Perhaps. Scraping the keel on draught clearance and I'm not sure the height above water has been set since they were evaluating various mast options. Regardless, as far as I know, the only Canadian shipyard is Heddle and their three sites. From reading their website, I'm not sure they are set up to build ships from the keel up. Modern shipbuilding is typically done in modules, and I'm not sure they have the 'hall' and hoisting capacity for it.

I understand the National Shipbuilding Strategy has tossed them some non-combat work (CCG, research, etc.) but many aspects of a combatant, such as welding, are highly specialized. Even our main yards are struggling to re-build these skills because of the sporadic nature of our naval builds.
 
Perhaps. Scraping the keel on draught clearance and I'm not sure the height above water has been set since they were evaluating various mast options. Regardless, as far as I know, the only Canadian shipyard is Heddle and their three sites. From reading their website, I'm not sure they are set up to build ships from the keel up. Modern shipbuilding is typically done in modules, and I'm not sure they have the 'hall' and hoisting capacity for it.

I understand the National Shipbuilding Strategy has tossed them some non-combat work (CCG, research, etc.) but many aspects of a combatant, such as welding, are highly specialized. Even our main yards are struggling to re-build these skills because of the sporadic nature of our naval builds.
It is indeed a shame. Shipbuilding is more about the assembly line (that is what you are buying) and not so much the ships. If we think it is important to maintain domestic capability we should be planning to build more or less continuously.
 
It is indeed a shame. Shipbuilding is more about the assembly line (that is what you are buying) and not so much the ships. If we think it is important to maintain domestic capability we should be planning to build more or less continuously.
I'm not sure successive Canadian governments have cared much about sovereign domestic capacity; we seem to be content behind a branch plant economy. Admittedly, in many fields, you need a solid international market simply because we lack a sustainable domestic market. In terms of complex naval construction - which I don't know much about - it would seem to make sense to have had an evolutionary approach and essentially have a 'keel laid down' at any given time. The key factor is skills retention, Of course, that would require a single shipyard-of-record unless we want to start shuffling modules around the country (maybe that's an option too, I don't know).
 
I guess frigates like the size of the new CSC program could theoretically be built on the great lakes as they are small enough to fit through the Seaway.

Debatable. Really cutting it close here.



The CSC is absolutely huge. With the exception of length, a lot of other dimensions are really closer to the old tankers than to frigates it is replacing. There are even debates over whether this should really be called a frigate. The closest analogous vessels in service today are all destroyers:



 
Not sure if this account is reliable but:


I find it slightly incongruous that she would be ousted from Defence because of her stance on spending to be handed basically the portfolio for government spending at large.

AoD

Let's hope this isn't the case. It would be bad for Canada if this turns out to be true.
 
Not sure if this account is reliable but:


I find it slightly incongruous that she would be ousted from Defence because of her stance on spending to be handed basically the portfolio for government spending at large.

AoD
Treasury Board oversees spending; it doesn't come up with the requests. She's now the banker, not the buyer.

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Given her strong performance, I'm not sure Treasury Board is the best use of her talents.
 

Dear lord that was painful.

Blair is and was a politician, even when in uniform at TPS.

He comes off here as deflecting, unclear, and really avoiding saying anything of substance.

I don't expect any press release bombshells for your typical interview; but some things said were exceeding tenuous at best, (we're on target to reach 2%)...... by when?

One could agree or disagree with the fairness of the target, there's some reasonable debate about how it is accounted for (some countries count veteran pensions, others don't as an example).

But there is no way we're tracking towards 2%. in the near to medium term.

Just own the choice; and/or be specific about change.

The PBO's report on this from June 2022, shows the current projections:

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Report Link:

 
some countries count veteran pensions, others don't as an example

The LPC changed the definition to include everything but the proverbial kitchen sink into defence spending in 2017, with some Enronesque accounting. We probably have one of the most generous definitions in NATO.

The new push is for this:

Canada has quietly and consistently lobbied major NATO allies for months to expand the definition of what it can include under the military alliance's defence spending benchmark, defence and government sources have told CBC News.

The notion of being able to include what the country spends on space, cyber and artificial intelligence (AI) research has been an important topic of conversation, particularly with the United States, said two sources with knowledge of the discussions.

But I can't imagine that most of NATO would agree to that. And besides which, even including those wouldn't add more than 0.1% per year when you add it all up:

The entire budget of the Canadian Space Agency is more than $530 million per year, while the federal government has in recent budgets announced different tranches of funding for cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

For example, the 2022 federal budget pledged $875.2 million over five years, and $238.2 million ongoing, to address "the rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape."

Separately, the federal government is funding 11 major AI research projects over several years with a $1.4 billion investment.

I won't even get into crazy difference between the RCMP and an actual gendarmerie. The more we push on changing definitions instead of just trying to make the target or accept our failure, the more ridiculous we look. Imagine going to a climate conference and lobbying to change the definition of a greenhouse gas. This is security equivalent.
 

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