| Budget proves it's time for Eggleton to quit
Defence post
;)
Art Eggleton: 'Pleased' with budget.
Tim Krochak / Herald Photo
Defence Minister
Art Eggleton greets sailors aboard HMCS Toronto in Halifax
Dec. 5. The Halifax-class frigate was embarking on a NATO
deployment in the Mediterranean Sea as part of the Standing
Naval Force Atlantic.
| By Scott Taylor ON TARGET
LAST MONDAY, shortly after Finance Minister Paul Martin tabled
his budget in the House of Commons, Esprit de Corps began receiving
media requests for comment.
Martin's financial strategy was being hailed by the Liberals as a
$12-billion security blanket for Canadians, and the Defence
Department was supposedly high on the funding priority list.
Adding to this organized deception, our long-serving defence
minister, Art Eggleton, was "pleased" with his department's extra
funding, saying that $1.2 billion "really is a sizable increase."
Given such a statement from a member of Parliament, is it any
wonder that young reporters were speculating about where this
windfall' would best be spent? Once Paul Martin's numbers were
digested, it became clear the $1.2 billion is to be applied to the
Defence budget over the next five years - which amounts to a 2.4 per
cent increase to DND's current $11.2-billion annual budget.
To put this in perspective, over the past two years Treasury
Board has had to retroactively allocate "emergency" payments of $500
million (in 1999) and $600 million (in 2000) to cover DND's
operating deficit.
One must also consider the $150-million savings in personnel
costs that DND realizes by operating well below its authorized level
of 60,000. With 57,000 service personnel still officially enrolled
and with disability, stress, maternity and retirement leaves
factored in, less than 53,000 are considered active.
DND is thus able to save not only on the salaries of those
missing, but also on the training and equipment costs for those no
longer "soldiering."
When these cost savings are combined with the Treasury Board
bailouts (without factoring in any of the equipment replacement
programs that remain unfunded), there is an annual budget shortfall
of about 6.25 per cent.
Add this figure to the auditor general's recent findings and you
begin to see the extent of the military's financial crisis. In 1998
it was reported that over the following five years, DND would need
to spend at least $11.5 billion to upgrade its infrastructure and
arsenal.
To cover that cost, the policy planners at National Defence
budgeted $6.5 billion.
In her report two weeks ago, incumbent Auditor General Sheila
Fraser said this $5-billion deficiency was never addressed and that
DND now spends nearly 20 per cent of its budget just to maintain its
ancient equipment.
In his defence, Eggleton has pointed out that the 1999 and 2000
"one-time top-ups" resulted from unforeseen operational
contingencies - namely, peacekeeping missions to Kosovo and East
Timor. And his spin doctors have trotted out ambitious young pilots
to proclaim how "proud" they are to fix 40-year-old Sea Kings.
Unlike Eggleton, retired major-general Lewis MacKenzie has been
quick to grasp the magnitude of the Sept. 11 crisis and the
commitment necessary for Canada to play a meaningful role in this
war against terror.
In criticizing Martin's budget, MacKenzie recognized that once
again the rank and file was being asked to "do even more (while
receiving) even less." The commitment of ships, aircraft and the
second joint task force to the Middle East already outweighs
Canada's contribution to Kosovo and East Timor. And there is still
talk of sending 1,000 more peacekeepers into Afghanistan.
Yet nowhere in Martin's budget is there any allowance for such an
unforeseen operational contingency. MacKenzie should not have to
point out the obvious. In this time of international crisis,
Eggleton and his commanders should be banging on desks and putting
their jobs on the line to demand that the military finally get its
due respect from the Liberal government. Instead, Eggleton says he's
"pleased" while Gen. Raymond Henault, Canada's chief of defence
staff, says absolutely nothing.
The people of Canada should be outraged by and ashamed of our
nation's response to the war against terror.
It took three months for the finance minister to announce a token
five-year bailout for our rusted-out military arsenal (no new
procurement; just keep the old junk serviceable), while Henault
triumphantly proclaimed he had "slowed the civvy street exodus" of
his demoralized troops. (As mentioned in a previous column, the
brass only achieved this success by invoking a mandatory six-month
delay on all releases.)
Within that same time frame, when called upon in two world wars,
Canada had already mobilized and equipped entire armies. During the
Cold War, Lester B. Pearson's government raised and outfitted two
5,000-man combat brigades (for service in Korea and West Germany).
In those cases, the military was not expected to reinvent itself
within a modest five-year budget increase, and defence ministers
recognized the responsibility of their portfolio.
Even armed with a damning auditor general's report, it is obvious
that the minister of national defence does not have sufficient
support in cabinet to obtain the necessary funding for his
beleaguered department.
Eggleton's pleasure at being snubbed in the budget is further
proof he must be removed from his post immediately.
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