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Originally Posted by Truenorth00
You really need to stop talking about DND and the CAF like you understand it, despite not having served.
Look at the data. DND has not grown much at all. And a lot of those positions are absolutely essential and we cannot function without them. Most of them are ex-military too. Taking them out of uniform is a way to retain their skill because they are not getting posted out and not getting replaced. Saves the training cost of having a replacement trained every 3 years. And saves uniformed positions exclusively for work that requires a uniform (and unlimited liability that comes with). Arguably, we should be doing even more of this.
Give you an example. The team that certifies all our air weapons ranges is an army of one. If he got hit by a bus tomorrow, we would be shutting all air weapons training involving anything from throwing out flares to dropping live ordinance from fighters. Can a military guy do his job? Sure. But then that Capt is one less uniform for a unit. And we aren't going to be flying around on uncertified ranges because that means we'll inevitably kill people.
There's a whole lot of DND that is similarly 1-2 deep with a handful of (usually ex-military) public servants holding down the fort. This is routinely why you see reports that say DND can't spend money or is behind on xyz.
Alternatively, we can save quite a few positions if we simply change a lot of procurement rules. We can get warships from South Korea for half the cost in a third of the time, with a third of the public servants involved. And this has certainly been discussed at DND before with a lot of support from the uniformed side. I wonder what folks in Halifax would think about that idea to save money.
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Oh Boy, I did look at the data you provided and there most definitely has been an increase of civilian DND positions since 2015 from 22,000+ to 27,000+ and yes I know many ex Military that now work for Lockmart and other companies, especially here in Halifax. I agree that that institutional experience in quite frankly invaluable. Stuff does not get done without them. How many uniformed Members are we down in the same time frame?
Lets talk about the National shipbuilding program. You are correct in that Canada could have purchased Ships from say the South Koreans( I would bet that's where any new Submarines are coming from) but that was not the intent of the Program. Its intent was to rebuild a Canadian shipbuilding capacity and more importantly the small business supply chains to support them. What other G -7 Country ( now 15) would get others to build their Warships let alone Coast Guard? Heck even the Dutch still build their own.
Its interesting that NATO has never complained about our Naval deficiencies nor the Americans. Its part of the Halifax security conference every year to give detailed tours of Halifax Shipyard to the Congressional delegations and NATO allies. I have been in the the assembly hall. It impresses. The Irvings are generating thousands of new tradepersons literally from High school.It has been a very slow process and Covid did not help but HMCS Max Bernays cleared the Panama locks the other night on her way to Esquimalt. Things are happening and yes the Destroyers SHOULD have been the first built but it is what it is.
To your last point,Halifax has absolutely boomed since the 2011 Contract announcement and as a Maritimer its about time the rest of Canada made a real investment in this part of the Country other than EI, ACOA and other thumb on the scale schemes like Cape Breton University.Halifax has added 100,000 people since 2015 and the City is far more cosmopolitan and far less white. Which was long over due. The flood of young South Asian folks, mainly from Ontario, has really made a positive difference here. Very Nice folks with a very positive energy. If for that point only the NSS has been a net positive.
Canada will have a combined Federal fleet (RCN, CCG) of OVER 400,000 tonnes when built out and I honestly can never see ANY federal government justifying that much displacement ever being built elsewhere.
Once again True thank you for your service and I am just a dude on the Internet. Don't misperceive my comments as a chuck everything out comment but you know better than all of us that Reform is needed.