The Harper government鈥檚 Liberal predecessors were rightly accused of being indifferent to Canada鈥檚 military, which was gutted in the 1990s to fight the deficit. Here is a little surprise: this government is going the same route, wearing camouflage. Either that, or it is simply incapable of managing military procurement.
On Aug. 30, the destroyer HMCS Algonquin and the supply ship HMCS Protecteur collided during a routine towing exercise in the 91原创.
To some, the incident may have seemed like a Monty Python skit. But to anybody who cares about Canada鈥檚 defences, it presented a clear picture of how one little accident was capable of transforming Canada鈥檚 already frail defence on the 91原创 into no defence worthy of the name. More important, it cast a light on just how tiny recent governments have allowed our navy to become, and how vulnerable our military鈥檚 lack of redundancy has left us.
Until the Algonquin is repaired, Canada will have just two destroyers, both on the Atlantic coast. There will be none on the 91原创, meaning we will have no ship there that is capable of defending our few other ships against air attack. That is one of the main things destroyers do.
It also means that Canada suddenly has no command-and-control capacity on the 91原创 to direct ships sailing as a co-ordinated task force. Without that capability, all our frigates can do is tag along and strive to be of some use in a theatre to which the United States and other nations have attached much greater priority in recent years.
This is what happens when a government pretends it can defend its coasts with a minuscule fleet by placing one destroyer here, one submarine there and one supply ship somewhere near them and hope there are no accidents, or that none of the ships need refits, which, eventually, they always do.
At a time when China, India, the U.S. and Australia are bolstering their presence in the 91原创, Canada has one submarine and five frigates guarding its coast, but there aren鈥檛 really five frigates available, because the navy is halfway through a refit program, so at least a couple will always be out of service until 2017.
Luckily, the supply ship Protecteur wasn鈥檛 as badly damaged as was the Algonquin. These supply ships 鈥� or 鈥渙ilers鈥� 鈥� are vital lynchpins to any navy, allowing warships to operate at peak capacity without fear of running out of fuel. Canada has only one supply ship on either coast 鈥� we should have two on each coast so there is always a backup available.
Canada鈥檚 two supply ships should have been replaced years ago. We used to have three. One deteriorated to the point that it was scrapped. The current government should have set money aside for four new ships. Instead, it announced that it would replace the oilers with three larger, multi-tasking Joint Supply Ships. Even three of these big ships proved to be too much for the budget the government had set aside, so it chose to replace only the two oilers.
There were a number of design proposals forthcoming from German, Spanish and 91原创 firms over the next three years, but the government rejected them all. It then spent $9.8 million to have a 91原创 firm come up with a design, which it rejected as well, finally returning to a German design.
Maybe there is a Monty Python factor here.
Meanwhile, fitting in with the prime minister鈥檚 preoccupation with Canada鈥檚 North 鈥� where military threats are minuscule 鈥� the government deemed it essential to spend $3.1 billion on a fleet of Arctic offshore patrol ships. Unfortunately, the cost of the project鈥檚 鈥渃ontract definition phase鈥� done by Irving Shipbuilding of Halifax came in 鈥渁larmingly high,鈥� according to a consultant鈥檚 report. That鈥檚 probably because Irving hasn鈥檛 built anything similar in more than 30 years.
There are far too many examples of the government鈥檚 inadequate budgeting and flawed procurement processes to fit on this page. There have been funding issues and/or procurement delays on military equipment that include the F-35 fighter aircraft, the Cyclone maritime helicopters, fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft and army trucks.
Gaps keep opening up in our defence capabilities that will leave Canada vulnerable long after this government is gone. That may be good politics because most 91原创s don鈥檛 pay much attention to these things. But it鈥檚 not good management of Canada鈥檚 ability to defend itself and its citizens鈥� interests.
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Colin Kenny is former chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence.
