November 2002

There has been a great deal of lobbying by various pro-defence organizations and concerned individuals, regarding the current state of the Canadian Armed Forces. As many of you will know, funding has been drastically cut from what had been planned for the defence budget over the past nine years, and uniformed strength has slipped by at least 25,000 regular force sailors, soldiers, and air force personnel during that period. The actual trained effective strength (those available to conduct or support operations) is in the order of 52,000. For a country of about 32 million people, that is nothing short of scandalous.

In the midst of the many operations our armed forces are conducting, the "Silent Service" carries on providing support to "Operation Enduring Freedom" out of all proportion to its size. Our Navy has deployed its twelfth ship to the Middle East, and more are being prepared for deployment. We are conducting a large proportion of the challenges and searches of ships and vessels of all sizes transiting some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, escort of high value units through the Strait of Hormuz, and the embarked staff in the Canadian Flagship have been coordinating the activity of many of the coalition naval forces in that area. Although the number of ships has reduced from the initial six to the current two frigates, it is still a significant contribution.

Nevertheless, after using up any "fat" there may have been, we are starting to eat into the muscle and bone of our fleet. Due to inadequate spares in our supply system, we are cannibalizing returning ships to get essential equipment into those deploying. We don't have enough sailors, or funds, and so one of our potential Command and Control ships, HMCS Huron, is inactive in Esquimalt Dockyard. We hear that the next ships to be deployed to Op Apollo will go without their elderly Sea King helicopters. Yes, the Sea Kings do still become airborne as they approach their 40th birthdays - a great credit to their maintainers and aircrews - but what can they do when they get aloft? Much less than a modern maritime helicopter could contribute is the unfortunate answer.

Meanwhile, the majority of the people of Canada seem unaware of the contribution of their navy to the War on Terror. It is really only our Navy that allows us to maintain a seat at the table: we are interoperable with US Carrier Battle Groups and Amphibious Ready Groups, and we are able to replace USN units on a one-for-one basis. This ability is largely through the foresight and hard work of our personnel - at all rank levels. Don't believe the Scott Taylors of this world - our new frigates and modernized destroyers are truly multi-purpose, combat-capable ships. We were also very lucky to get the frigate construction programme well underway prior to the end of the Cold War, or we wouldn't have our current modern fleet. The army, effective though they were, could only deploy one small battle group to Afghanistan. We had to ask, and pay, the US Air Force to get them and their equipment there. Once the army had settled in they did well, but we had insufficient soldiers to replace them. As you will have heard, the air force's CF-18s would be a liability in any likely coalition operation due to incompatible and unsecure communications and a lack of modern precision weapons. In time this may be corrected, but surely some of these aircraft should have been continuously updated rather than allow block obsolescence to occur.

It appears that the Prime Minister may finally have been embarrassed into reversing this downward spiral of our defence capability: he has stated that more money will be provided in the next budget, although "defence is not a priority for Canada." He must understand that it has to be a priority - adequate health care and education are issues we all care about, but we need a safe and secure country first! A great deal more money will be needed if the Armed Forces are to be taken off life support and re-built. One thing is certain; pressure must be maintained on the government if sufficient funding is to be obtained. What can you and I do about it? Sign one of the petitions making the rounds; explain the case for a strong Navy and Canadian Forces to your friends, neighbours and relatives; alternatively, speak or write to your MP. This situation has been allowed to become a crisis, and we should all try to do something to correct it before it is too late.

© Copyright NOAC 2002