TORONTO – Canada’s military is “wounded” and the country’s defense severely underfunded, according to a Senate report released Thursday that laments the lack of resources and manpower to deal with a terrorist attack or natural disaster.
The report notes that Canada – named by al-Qaida as one of five target nations deserving of an attack – has done little since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to prevent terrorism.
“Canada has an unenviable place on Osama bin Laden’s infamous list of countries to be targeted. We may get lucky. But it’s not a bet you’d want to make,” said the review of defense policy by the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defense.
“Despite the increasing complacency of most Canadians as the memory of 9-11 slips to the back of our minds, there is every likelihood that an attack will eventually occur on Canadian soil.”
Yet, the report notes Canada ranks 128th out of 165 countries in defense spending as a percentage of its gross domestic product, a figure that rankles the United States and other NATO allies.
The defense budget should be at least $21 billion a year instead of the $12.1 billion earmarked this year, and the Canadian forces should have 90,000 people in uniform instead of the 62,000 authorized today, the report said.
“A hard, honest look at the facts has made it clear to the committee that the funding is simply not there to end Canada’s sad era of military darkness,” the report said.
Canada announced in February it would double its military spending over the next five years and recruit an additional 8,000 soldiers and reservists. But that is not enough, according to the committee.
“Keeping Canadians secure and safe is job one of the federal government; everything builds on that, everything else depends on that,” Liberal Party Sen. Colin Kenny said. “If your country isn’t secure, everything above it gets put in jeopardy.”
“If there is any one message at the core of this report, it is this: You can’t get there from here. Visions are worthless without proper funding, and the funding simply isn’t there,” Kenny said.
Report findings
* The Canadian army does not have enough equipment to properly outfit its soldiers. Troops being deployed to Haiti, for example, had to borrow night vision goggles from the army’s Infantry School.
* Canada’s CC-130 Hercules cargo fleet includes 32 aircraft, 19 of which were purchased in the mid-1960s, making them the oldest operating Hercules cargo planes in the world.
* The navy’s Iroquois-class destroyers will come to the end of their service life by 2011, yet the Canadian forces will try to keep them going until 2015 with expensive refits and repairs. It is unlikely any replacement will arrive before the destroyers are retired.
* The army is only at three-quarters strength because of medical leaves and job training.
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