MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 5 Feb 12

• Defence Minister: Less defence spending =/= less defence  “NATO forces won’t let shrinking defence budgets weaken the effectiveness of the military alliance, said Defence Minister Peter MacKay. European and North American member nations must find ways to work “smarter” and more “collaboratively” in the face of security challenges — something NATO defence ministers wrestled with during this week’s two-day meeting in Brussels. “All of the buzzwords — streamlining, efficiencies — are very much being heard in the halls of NATO as they’re being bantered around in the halls of Ottawa,” MacKay told QMI Agency in an interview on his way back from the meeting in Europe. “Everyone is talking more about partnerships, talking about what has been deemed smart defence. And smart defence means insuring that we’re not duplicating efforts, that there aren’t redundancies.” Military budgets are entering the age of austerity as NATO members struggle to contain deficits and manage sovereign debt loads ….”
• Military Cuts: Canada vs. Australia “The Canadian Forces, like every part of the federal government, is facing stiff budget cuts. Before the hatchet falls, it is worth considering how little, rather than how much, Canada spends on national defence. Australia may not immediately spring to mind as the country with which to best compare Canada’s defence spending, but is not that much of a stretch. They share the same values and allies, have similarly robust resource-based economies, generous welfare nets and military histories from the Boer War through to the war in Afghanistan that usually have dovetailed. Although Canada’s economy is nearly twice the size of Australia’s – and has about 40 per cent more people – Canada lags far behind its Antipodean cousin in defence spending ….”
• “Canada had some strong words for members of the U.N. Security Council Saturday, saying it was “disappointed in the extreme” after Russia and China blocked a resolution to deal with the escalating violence in Syria. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said the failure by the council to effectively respond to the crisis in the Middle-Eastern country was “yet another free pass for the illegitimate Assad regime and those backing it.” In an unusual weekend session, 13 members of the security council, including the United States, Britain and France, voted in favour of a resolution which backs an Arab League plan calling for President Bashar Assad to step down. But Russia and China used their veto power to block the resolution ….”  More here.
• Afghanistan (1)  A bit more of the story from Afghanistan, from one of the troops.  “As the current course of Afghan National Army recruits approaches the end of their eight-week training cycle at Regional Military Training Centre – North, the Canadian advisers here near Mazar-e-Sharif are approaching the end of our tour. When we arrived last August and became part of the NATO training mission to help the ANA build a more professional army, we knew there would be challenges. After almost seven months of working closely with ANA trainers, our team has learned that first impressions in Afghanistan count for a lot. During our work-up training in Canada, we were told that this would be the case, but we did not fully appreciate it until after we arrived and began working with ANA training staff. We worked very hard in the early stages to learn all we could about Afghan culture and individual ANA instructors on a personal level. This is a critical step – it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for an adviser to start making suggestions without first building friendship and trust with their ANA counterpart ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  “NATO’s training mission in Afghanistan ends in two years, amid questions about the country’s ability to manage its own security when the alliance, Canada included, departs ….”
• Afghanistan (3)  U.N.:  Almost 8 out of 10 civilian casualties caused by the Taliban (and numbers climbing), good guy civilian casualties dropping.
• “The family of a 14-year-old boy found dead off the coast of northern Labarador are asking why the Canadian Forces waited to look for their son due to bad weather when a private helicopter was able to land on the scene in the same conditions. Canadian military officials had said poor weather was to blame for their inability to launch a search and rescue effort for Burton Winters, who was reported missing on Sunday night. But a statement Saturday from Rod and Natalie Jacque, the father and step-mother of the Makkovik teen, gives a scathing critique of the Department of National Defence’s response to their crisis. The statement casts doubt on the department’s explanation and rails against “poor decision-making.” ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War  And what’s China’s role in all this?  (Hat tip to Mark Collins)  “How much of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s spiraling cost in recent years can be traced to China’s cybertheft of technology and the subsequent need to reduce the fifth-generation aircraft’s vulnerability to detection and electronic attack? That is a central question that budget planners are asking, and their queries appear to have validity. Moreover, senior Pentagon and industry officials say other classified weapon programs are suffering from the same problem. Before the intrusions were discovered nearly three years ago, Chinese hackers actually sat in on what were supposed to have been secure, online program-progress conferences, the officials say. The full extent of the connection is still being assessed, but there is consensus that escalating costs, reduced annual purchases and production stretch-outs are a reflection to some degree of the need for redesign of critical equipment. Examples include specialized communications and antenna arrays for stealth aircraft, as well as significant rewriting of software to protect systems vulnerable to hacking ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 4 Feb 12

• Note how Postmedia News is sharing this document?  Well done!  “A Top Secret Canadian intelligence assessment has concluded that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability, adding weight to the growing international isolation of Tehran as UN inspectors push to investigate what Iran claims is a peaceful nuclear program. In an Intelligence Assessment obtained Thursday by the National Post, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service calls the Iranian nuclear weapons programs one of “the most significant, urgent threats of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation today.” “The fact that Iran has engaged in activities related to nuclear weaponization suggests that it is, at a minimum, seeking to acquire the capacity to produce such a weapon,” reads the heavily edited report, released under the Access to Information Act. The report shows that the Canadian intelligence community is not buying Iran’s repeated assertions that its nuclear facilities are for peaceful uses such as energy. It may also explain Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent comment that Tehran was “lying” about its nuclear intentions ….”
• “Inclement weather was the reason why the military could not immediately deploy an aircraft in the search for a missing 14-year-old boy in Labrador whose body was later found on a frozen sea, the Canadian Forces said Friday. Rear Admiral Dave Gardam, the commander of Joint Task Force Atlantic, said the weather was unsuitable when the military first received a call Monday morning to help find Burton Winters, who was reported missing Sunday evening from the remote community of Makkovik. “Given the weather conditions, which were below limits for safe operations of an aircraft, our aircraft were not able to operate in that environment,” Gardam told a news conference Friday in Halifax. Gardam said poor visibility and a low ceiling prevented the military from dispatching a chopper from its base in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L., sooner. “We have to manage a very large area, and it’s a balancing act on how you manage weather, resources, aircraft availability, crew rest,” Gardam said. “It is very much like a ballet, and it has to be managed that way.” ….”  More from CBC.ca here.
• “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, participated in a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Defence Ministers on February 2-3, in Brussels, Belgium. While the meeting covered a range of issues, the discussion’s main focus was NATO operations, NATO reform, and maintaining defence capabilities in a time of fiscal austerity across the Alliance ….”
• Afghanistan (1)  “NATO is moving to shore up troop security in Afghanistan after a series of deadly attacks by Afghan forces on its soldiers. The attacks are “very insidious, very demoralizing and very tragic, to say the least,” Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Friday in an interview with QMI Agency. MacKay was in Europe following the two-day NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels. “One of the takeaways from this meeting was a specific initiative where NATO is going to be tasking a group in Afghanistan to ensure a more robust vetting system,” he said. “That is a filtration system that picks up either Taliban infiltration or the type of instability, aggressiveness, animosity that results in these incidents.” France suspended training and support operation in Afghanistan in January after a rogue Afghan trainee killed four French soldiers. American and Australian forces have also been killed in what the military calls “green-on-blue” attacks — where Afghan forces turn on their International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) trainers. MacKay said General John Allen, in charge of Afghanistan ISAF troops, told the NATO meeting he was making troop security a priority in the wake of the deaths. “He has people now in place looking for more protections for our trainers and putting a system in place that is going to close the loop on who finds their way into these training bases and putting greater protections there for the trainers themselves,” MacKay said ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  “Soldiers from CFB Gagetown are once again preparing to deploy to Afghanistan, but this time it won’t be in a combat role. The soldiers will be training soldiers and police with the National Afghan Security Forces. “Many of these guys are great warriors, they have fought for years against the Soviets and others,” said Col. Greg Smith, deputy commander of the Canadian Training Mission in Afghanistan. “Now we are just trying to develop their institutions.” “It’s more about how do you run things and be able to plan long-term,” added Lt.-Col. Alex Ruff, the commanding officer of 2RCR. “Logistics is a challenge for them, their ability to plan for future.” ….”
• Afghanistan (3)  “The number of Canadian soldiers medically released from the military more than doubled over the decade-long campaign in Afghanistan, according to figures provided to the Toronto Star. Almost 12,000 Canadian Forces personnel were deemed medically unfit for service between 2001 and November 2011, the force says. But the annual incidences of medical releases dramatically spiked after troops began deploying to Afghanistan. In 2001 — before Canadians began deploying en masse to the country — 614 soldiers, sailors and air force personnel were released because of an illness or injury that prevented them from continuing with their jobs in the regular and reserve forces. That number had doubled to 1,241 by 2004 and peaked in both 2006 and 2008 when 1,338 individuals were returned to the civilian ranks — a 117 per cent increase from 2001. The numbers also give an indication of the stresses on the support programs rushed into place by the federal defence and veteran’s affairs departments to help wounded soldiers as they transitioned out of the ranks ….”
• Nichola Goddard, 1980-2006, R.I.P.  “Capt. Nichola Goddard’s name will live on in the walls of a new Calgary school, one of four opening this year. The Calgary Board of Education approved the names of four new schools, expected to open in September, including one with the moniker Captain Nichola Goddard School, chosen in honour of the Calgary soldier killed in Afghanistan in 2006. Her mother Sally Goddard said the school’s name will serve as a lasting legacy for her daughter, the first female Canadian soldier killed in combat in Afghanistan. “We are thrilled to have that kind of memorial,” she said from her Charlottetown, PEI home. “It will be a living tribute to her.” ….”  More on this here, here and here.
• HMCS Charlottetown’s UAV helping patrol the Med.  “When HMCS Charlottetown deployed to the Mediterranean Sea for Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR, she took with her a potent surveillance and reconnaissance capability that is new to Canadian warships: the ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle, a small, low-cost, long-endurance UAV built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing. Among her many tasks during this deployment, Charlottetown is exploring the feasibility of integrating UAVs aboard HMC ships and developing expertise in operating UAVs at sea ….”
• Way Up North  Big bosses (including Canada’s CDS) visit Rangers up north.  “Two of the most powerful military leaders in North America dropped in to Yellowknife this week to view the men and women on the front lines of Northern defence. Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Walter J. Natynczyk, and NORAD Cmdr. Charles H. Jacoby Jr. roared up from a boat launch aboard Arctic Bear Cats to a 1 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group encampment on Walsh Lake Monday. The visit was part of a tour of Northern Canada which ended Tuesday. Seven members of the Fort Providence Ranger patrol welcomed the dignitaries, showed them their camp set up, offered traditional foods and talked about the Ranger program. “It is my first time in Yellowknife and I’m very impressed,” Jacoby said, adding that when he left Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., Monday morning it was 60 degrees Fahrenheit ….”
• Would creating a single Canadian military buying agency make things better?  Not according to this academic:  “Military procurement has recently popped up on the public’s radar again, with both positive and negative commentary. When the attention is negative, the key questions are who is responsible and who is accountable? This is particularly the case during question period in the House of Commons as Opposition members take every opportunity to try to hold the government and a particular minister to account. Unfortunately, the solution that is being presented to fix the procurement system – the creation of a single procurement agency rather than the existing multiple departments (primarily Defence, Public Works and Industry Canada) – is not the answer. A single procurement agency may improve many parts of the process, but it will not solve the underlying reasons for why major acquisitions become problematic: cost overruns; delayed deliveries; and equipment not meeting requirements. The reasons for these problems have much more to do with internal issues that have nothing to do with whether or not there is one agency responsible or multiple departments responsible. Additionally, politics will always be a critical factor, regardless of whether or not there is a single agency. Simply put, while a single agency may shorten the process somewhat, it is not the answer ….”  More in a fuller report (1.3MB 17 page PDF) here.
• “A Muslim man alleges he’s become a terror suspect simply because of a workplace quip – he says all he did was tell his sales staff to “blow away” the competition at a trade show. Now Saad Allami is seeking $100,000 from the Quebec provincial police force, one of its sergeants and the provincial Justice Department. Allami says in a Quebec Superior Court filing that he was arrested in January 2011 and accused of being a terrorist because of a pep talk he gave fellow employees. Allami was a sales manager for a telecommunications firm when he sent out a text message to staff urging them to “blow away” the competition at a New York City convention. He alleges that, three days later, he was arrested without warning by Quebec provincial police and detained for over a day while his house was searched. Allami says he has no links to terrorist organizations or the Islamic movement and that police acted without any evidence or research ….”
• Hail Winterfest in Ottawa (including the CF)!  “For the fifth year in a row, the Canadian Forces (CF) will showcase the military’s unique winter activities display at Winterlude in the nation’s capital during the first three weekends in February at Jacques Cartier Park. Joining the display for the first weekend are Search and Rescue technicians from 8 Wing Trenton. Returning this year is the winter obstacle course that will test the coordination and physical fitness of children who accept the challenge. Back by popular demand is the 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group from Northern Ontario. Canadians will have the opportunity to speak to Rangers about living in Canada’s north and get winter survival tips. Soldiers from 33 and 34 Canadian Brigade Groups (Ontario and Quebec-based formations) and sailors from Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Carleton based in Ottawa, Ontario, will be on hand to help visitors try out military equipment and winter clothing ….”
• “Saturday, September 8 should be a day to remember in Port Burwell, Ontario. That is the day the decommissioned submarine Ojibwa, Canada’s first Oberon Class submarine is set arrive at her new home to become the centerpiece of the Elgin Military Museum’s new naval museum. The decision to earmark September 8 as the day the sub will be brought ashore and placed on her new foundations was made at a meeting of the Ojibwa Project Team on January 30 ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 3 Feb 12

• “A top defence department official says the federal government has launched an investigation into a search that eventually recovered the body of a 14-year-old Labrador snowmobiler who had been missing since Sunday. “The death of this young man is a tragedy…. I have asked officials to look into the incident and I can inform the House that the chief of defence staff has commenced an investigation,” said Junior Defence Minister Julian Fantino in response to a question from NDP defence critic Jack Harris. Fantino’s comments come a day after a member of Newfoundland and Labrador’s house of assembly questioned if the boy could have been found alive if a military search and rescue helicopter had responded sooner. “It’s way too late,” said Labrador MHA Randy Edmunds, who helped recover the body of Burton Winters on Wednesday. “You don’t show up for search and rescue efforts after three days up here. “The value of life up here is just as important as … anywhere else in Canada.” ….”  More from media here and here and from Question Period in the House of Commons here.  Note to CBC.ca – methinks someone’s going to call you about that “junior” minister thing.
• Afghanistan (1)  This from Angus Reid:  “A majority of respondents disagree with extending the training mission beyond its 2014 deadline. Most Canadians are in favour of their government’s decision to keep soldiers in Afghanistan to help train the local military, but many also believe this mission should not be extended beyond 2014, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found. In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,001 Canadian adults, 40 per cent of respondents believe Canada made a mistake in sending military forces to Afghanistan in 2002, while 36 per cent think Canada did the right thing. The federal government’s decision to keep 950 soldiers in Afghanistan until 2014 in a strictly non-combat role to help train the Afghan military is endorsed by a majority of Canadians (54%), including two thirds of respondents in British Columbia and Alberta (66%). However, about three-in-five respondents (58%) disagree with extending Canada’s non-combat role after 2014 ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  On wanting to get the #$%^ out, and not reading reports properly.
• Stephen Bouzane, 1981-2007, R.I.P.  “The Newfoundland and Labrador president of the Royal Canadian Legion says a plan to remove a memorial sign in Springdale for a soldier who died in Afghanistan is “embarassing.” The family of Cpl. Stephen Bouzane was upset when the local Legion sent the family an email, asking that the tribute be removed. It believes the tribute is a traffic hazard … even though the RCMP and the town said they haven’t received any complaints. This sign, in St. Alban’s, is one of two erected in the memory of Cpl. Stephen Bouzane, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2007. This sign, in St. Alban’s, is one of two erected in the memory of Cpl. Stephen Bouzane, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2007. (CBC)But Thursday, provincial Legion president Aiden Crewe called the Legion in Springdale. He said the decision by the local office contradicts Legion’s mission to honour veterans. Bouzane’s family told CBC News Thusday afternoon that the damage is done and the sign will still be removed on Saturday. They say the legion had a chance to fix the situation. Bouzane was killed when a roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan in 2007. He was 26. The Bouzane family donated two large tribute signs to Royal Canadian Legions in Springdale and St. Alban’s last year. “The one in Springdale doesn’t mean nothing to me any more,” Maureen Bouzane told CBC News at her home in St. Alban’s ….”
• A Canadian historian on how much of a role the U.N. should play in Canadian decisions on whether to intervene in places.  “…. no nation should ever consent to having its hands tied by a supranational organization when its vital interests are threatened. The inherent right to self-defence and the protection of vital national interests must override a UN Security Council veto. The peace and security of the world is just such a Canadian vital interest, as is the danger posed by the spread of nuclear weapons to even more unstable, messianic nations. Our interests must not be held hostage to a UN Security Council resolution ….”
• What’s Canada Buying? (1)  Mark Collins warning about potential problems with “buy/build local” for big honkin’ ships.
• What’s Canada Buying? (2)  Remember this story about how much Canada spent with an American security training company?  Since the CBC doesn’t seem to have included a copy of the “public” document the story is based on, you can find a copy here (via Army.ca).
• Speaking of public documents from Parliament, here’s where you can download a copy of a written response to an MP’s question regarding “when’ll Canada’s subs be good to go?”
• “A new resource centre designed to help Canadian Forces members and their families cope with deployment opened at 19 Wing Comox on Wednesday. The Deployment Services Centre (DSC) will provide a place where those dealing with deployment can access resources, find information and gather to discuss their experiences. Designed for use by both Canadian Forces personnel and their families members, the DSC aims to provide all of the necessary resources in one place. Many of the resources were available before, said co-ordinator Kassandra Dycke, but the centre will make them easier to access ….”
• The land is sorted out, but moving some of Canada’s commandos to CFB Trenton won’t be happening overnight.  “Canada’s elite commandos likely won’t move into a new base near CFB Trenton for several years despite a decision to kick two reluctant landowners off their property, the military says. The new home base and training facility for Joint Task Force 2 and the Canadian Special Operations Regiment will be located on 440-hectares of remote farmland next to CFB Trenton and the government served notice that it plans to expropriate two properties, including one farm that has been in the family of Frank Myers for 200 years. The Public Works department, which handles all of Ottawa’s real-estate holdings, says the expropriation process is expected to take 220 days. That means the military could take possession of the land by the end of 2012. But even then, the military says construction of the base for the Canadian Special Operations Force Command will take “several years to complete.” The new facilities are estimated to cost around $300 million ….”
• Columnist underwhelmed at Canada’s plans for the anniversary of the War of 1812.  “Prime Minister Stephen Harper will spend $28 million to re-gird Canadian loins – presumably to make us more patriotic – by extolling the War of 1812. It would appear the Conservative government, unhappy with the level of our chest-thumping, disappointed by our seeming lack of patriotic spirit, believes by using our money to celebrate the War of 1812, it will make us what? More militaristic? ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 2 Feb 12

• Afghanistan (1)  The latest casualty numbers are out. “Defence department figures released Wednesday have put the final, official tally on the number of Canadian soldiers wounded during the 10-year Afghanistan combat mission at more than 2,000. Twenty soldiers were wounded in action in 2011, the lowest number since Canada took over responsibility of Kandahar in 2005. A further 168 received what were classified as “non-battle injuries.” That brings the total number of Canadian soldiers wounded in action from the start of the mission in April 2002 to the end this past December at 635, with another 1,412 having suffered non-battle injuries. Four Canadian soldiers were killed in 2011, bringing the total to 158 ….”
• Afghanistan (2a)  “Taliban plans to establish a first-ever political office in Qatar are being met with skepticism from the Canadian government, which is dubious of the insurgent movement’s real desire to negotiate a peace settlement for Afghanistan. This as the government sought to downplay a leaked NATO report that has cast doubt on Canadian and international assertions the Taliban is on its last legs and that average Afghans feel confident about the future. Taliban officials announced in January they were planning to open the Qatar office so they could sidestep Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government and speak directly to the U.S. and other NATO members about a way to end the 11-year conflict in Afghanistan. The move has been welcomed in some corners, including Washington, as a positive development that offers a track for reaching a negotiated peace. But others, Canada included, aren’t so confident. A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said the government “remains deeply skeptical” of the Taliban’s motives in establishing the office and has “grave concerns with the sincerity of the Taliban.” “The Taliban did not indicate that they are ready to renounce violence, respect the Afghan constitution, including women’s rights, and sever ties with al-Qaida or other terrorist organizations,” spokesman Rick Roth said in an email. “These conditions are essential for Canada to support reconciliation efforts.” ….”
• Afghanistan (2b)  “Pakistan can’t co-ordinate with the Taliban if the country’s government expects Canada and other allies to continue working in the region, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Wednesday. Addressing a leaked NATO report that says the alliance believes Pakistan is still supporting the Taliban, MacKay dismissed the part of the report that said the insurgents’ morale is high. He said it’s not a new concern for Canada that Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, is working with the Taliban. “We’ve always been very clear in our messaging and in our insistence that Pakistan not co-operate at any level with the Taliban. And that has been a frustrated effort,” MacKay said. “If they are a reliable ally, and if they are a country that wants to see the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other NATO allies continue to work in the region and to bring about peace and security throughout the region, then their co-operation is required and in fact is demanded.” ….”
• Afghanistan (3)  Some of the REST of the story on the Canadian soldier feeling threatened in Afghanistan because he’s gay (via Army.ca)
• Afghanistan (3)  Government of Canada Info-machine’s podcast on what we’ve been up to in Afghanistan - transcript here, downloadable video here.
• New home coming for JTF-2?  “The federal government plans to kick two landowners off their property to make way for the construction of a massive new base for Canada’s special forces. Defence Minister Peter MacKay confirmed the move Wednesday, saying that the extraordinary steps are necessary so that the country’s elite commandos can set up a new training facility in a remote area next to the military’s main air base, CFB Trenton. “Expeditionary forces and forces that are deploying overseas being close to an airbase is something that helps facilitate that,” he said in Ottawa. “Similarly, the current training areas are in an urban area and so again for operational training, for the type of specialized training necessary, this new facility we believe will optimize our abilities.” The long-planned move will consolidate the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, a team that includes the elite Joint Task Force 2 counterterrorism force and the Canadian Special Operation Regiment. Currently, JTF2 is based at the Dwyer Hill Training Facility northwest of Ottawa while CSOR operates out of CFB Petawawa. The plans have been stalled by two holdouts with landowners near Trenton who have refused to sell their farmland to the federal government. The first is Frank Myers, whose family has owned the 93-hectare farm for 200 years. The other is Jim Pang, of Belleville, whom local news reports say purchased his 22-hectare property as an investment in 1976. Neither could be reached Wednesday for comment. Both have been in negotiations for years with the government, but refused to sell off their properties ….”  More from the home-town paper here, and a bit of backstory dating back to 2007 at Army.ca.
• Veterans Affairs Minister takes a question on a proposed hospital closure.  “Ms. Annick Papillon (Québec, NDP):  Mr. Speaker, federal services provided to our veterans are under serious threat. Many of these individuals who risked their lives for this country suffer from health problems and are waiting for treatment. Transferring Ste. Anne’s Hospital and cutting the Department of Veterans Affairs’ budget will result in the loss of 1,800 jobs. Our veterans are not responsible for the Conservatives’ mismanagement. Will this government follow the lead of Great Britain and the United States and treat our war heroes properly? Hon. Steven Blaney (Minister of Veterans Affairs, CPC):  Mr. Speaker, contrary to what the member just said, our government is maintaining veterans’ benefits. As for Ste. Anne’s Hospital, we will ensure that our veterans continue to receive high quality services in both official languages. We are doing this and we plan to transfer responsibility for Ste. Anne’s Hospital to the Government of Quebec for one very clear reason: we want to maintain high quality services for our veterans. We want to maintain the quality of the services offered to veterans and the public, as well as to maintain good jobs in health care.”
• Way Up North  “China may use the upcoming visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to try convincing him that it deserves a more prominent role in the Arctic. Next year Canada begins a two-year term as chair of the Arctic Council, which comprises the eight nations that ring the North Pole. Even though it has no Arctic territories, China wants a place at that table. Zhang Junsai, the Chinese ambassador to Canada, told a Montreal audience on Wednesday that his country should be allowed to be there. “Of course, China wishes to be an observer,” he said. The Arctic region may contain as much as one-quarter of the Earth’s untapped oil and gas, reserves that will become more accessible as temperatures rise and polar ice caps melt. Meanwhile, China covets additional energy and resources to power its fast-growing economy and is already investing heavily in Canada’s oilsands. That theme of energy exports is expected to play a central role in Harper’s upcoming trip ….”
• What’s Canada Buying? (1)  Building an Integrated Personnel Support Centre/Veterans Affairs building in Cold Lake and research on improving military-civilian emergency management in British Columbia.
• What’s Canada Buying? (2)  “A Dartmouth outfit has won a $2.3-million contract to test and repair military equipment across Atlantic Canada over the next two years. Pylon Atlantic will also have three one-year options on the contract that could push its value up to $5 million to $6 million. “It certainly is a big win for us,” Wayne Sampson, the general manager, said Wednesday. “We did a lot of hard work to make sure we were able to win this bid.” The military work of calibrating and repairing everything from calipers to torque wrenches from all the military bases across Atlantic Canada has been the company’s mainstay since 1990. “A lot of the instruments come out of the dockyard,” Sampson said. “We also pick up equipment in New Brunswick — Oromocto and Moncton. We send on-site teams to Labrador, and St. John’s, (N.L.)” ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (1)  Ooopsie…. “Mr. Speaker, yesterday in question period the member of Parliament for Burnaby–New Westminister and the NDP interim finance critic outrageously overstated the cost of F-35s. His statement was false and completely dishonest. It is unfortunate that the member and his party deliberately refuse to do basic research and instead choose to make things up as they go along. If the member did his research he would realize that the benefits of this purchase have already resulted in over $300 million in contracts for Canadian companies, one of which employs hundreds of workers in my riding of Delta—Richmond East. These contracts are providing important work to an industry comprising over 10,000 highly skilled manufacturing jobs. The NDP’s willingness to distort the facts and mislead Canadians is further proof that it is not fit to govern.”  The statement in question?  This one, during debate on pensions:   “Mr. Speaker, the future is by forcing seniors to work to age 67 and that will take $30,000 away from low-income seniors. The government has a choice. A single F-35 costs $450 million. That would pay OAS benefits for 70,000 Canadian seniors. Its prison plan costs $19 billion. That would pay annual benefits for 2.9 million Canadians seniors. The Conservatives say costly prisons and fighter jets are their priority. We say seniors are more important. Why are the Conservatives cutting future benefits for seniors? If they keep down this road, it is good-bye Charlie Brown.”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (2)  Fantino’s latest in the House of Commons:  “…. F-35s are coming off the production line, pilots are flying them and over 60 Canadian industries are benefiting from the manufacturing of parts for this particular program, industries in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia …. in replacing the aging CF-18s, Canada made the conscious choice to partner with our closest allies to develop the next generation of aircraft for our military men and women. By doing so, we are creating jobs for Canadian workers today that will be sustained into the future. It will also ensure that our brave men and women have the equipment they need for many years to come to do their jobs in the Canadian military.”
• From the Pentagon Info-machine:  “Agreements signed last week in the Canadian capital of Ottawa set up a roadmap for U.S. and Canadian officials to work together in the event of a natural disaster or attack, the director of strategy, policy and plans at the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command said this week. Army Maj. Gen. Fran Mahon said the agreements allow the two countries’ militaries to work more closely together and to plan for support to civilian agencies. U.S. Army Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., commander of NORAD and Northcom, and Lt. Gen. Walter Semianiw of the Canadian army, commander of Canada Command, signed the documents Jan. 25. One is a combined defense plan that lays down a planning framework for defense cooperation following a natural or man-made disaster or attack. The military leaders also signed a continuation of the civil assistance plan that allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency ….”
• Libya  “A Canadian woman jailed in Mexico on suspicion of leading a conspiracy to smuggle members of slain Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s family into the country says she has been tortured and abused during nearly three months in custody. In a six-page letter obtained by CBC News, Cyndy Vanier documents a string of alleged abuses she claims she has endured since Nov. 10 while being detained in Mexico City’s Centro de Arraigos detention centre. A Mexican judge Tuesday night ordered Vanier and three co-accused remain in jail for up to 10 more days while authorities decide whether they should be charged. The group has already been held for more than 80 days under Mexico’s “preventive arrest” laws while authorities investigate what they have called an international plot to forge travel documents and smuggle surviving members of the Gadhafi family to a home on Mexico’s Pacific coast. Interior Minister Alejandro Poire accused Vanier in December of being the ringleader of the alleged plot ….”  More here.
• Company endorsed by former Canadian General offering military personnel chance to get in on ground floor to sell “Liquid Nutrition”.  “Liquid Nutrition Group Inc. announced today an innovative program called ‘Operation Good To Go’ created to encourage both active and retired armed forces personnel to become Liquid Nutrition franchisees. “Operation Good To Go is one of the first programs of its kind and a great example of a company putting country and community ahead of the bottom line” Liquid Nutrition is offering qualified personnel a preferred franchise rate and the opportunity to own and operate their own business. Liquid Nutrition will also support franchisees with the tools and training required to open a successful Liquid Nutrition retail operation. “Operation Good To Go is one of the first programs of its kind and a great example of a company putting country and community ahead of the bottom line,” said retired Major-General David Fraser, a partner, in Operation Good to Go and Chairman of Red Maple Capital Inc., as well as a 31 year veteran in the Canadian Forces and a former commander of the Multinational Brigade in Afghanistan. “Liquid Nutrition will go along way in assisting the men and woman who have served their countries with an exciting opportunity to successfully transition into a second career and civilian life.” The program is a five-year partnership between Liquid Nutrition and Red Maple Capital Inc. Ken Seville, President of Red Maple Capital will lead this initiative. Steve Nash, two-time NBA MVP and partner of Liquid Nutrition, believes the program will attract numerous qualified franchisees in markets across Canada, the United States and around the globe. “I am very excited about the opportunity for the men and women in the armed forces to join the Liquid Nutrition family. They bring a tremendous work ethic, sense of pride and community, discipline and team building abilities to our company and truly embody the Liquid Nutrition lifestyle,” said Nash. Liquid Nutrition hopes to attract franchisees from the Canadian Forces, United States Armed Forces and internationally ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 1 Feb 12

• Syria  “The visa section at Canada’s embassy in Damascus has been closed and diplomats are being withdrawn as violence continues to escalate in Syria, the foreign affairs department said Tuesday. That means upwards of 4,700 Canadians believed to be still in the Middle East country now will have a harder time escaping as the situation on the ground continues to spin out of control. “Due to the growing instability in Syria, Canada has reduced its diplomatic staff in Syria to core personnel only,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement, adding that Syrian authorities had been imposing travel restrictions on Canadian diplomats. The Canadian Embassy will remain open and provide limited service, the department said, while an honorary consulate is still operating in Aleppo. However, visas to Canada will now be issued from offices in Lebanon and Turkey ….”
• “Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas delivered a message to Canada this week: Now that you are Israel’s best friend, use your relationship to push the country into substantive peace talks. In two hours of talks with Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in Ramallah, Mr. Abbas didn’t expect to change the Harper government’s staunch support for Israel, according to Majdi al-Khaldi, an adviser to Mr. Abbas who attended the meetings. Instead, Mr. Abbas challenged Canada to use its new tight-knit ties to put pressure on Israel ….”
• HMCS Charlottetown hits the Med’  “The Strait of Gibraltar was a magnificent sight as it stretched out before the bow of HMCS Charlottetown. The moon rode high in the sky, highlighting the gentle profile of Africa to starboard and the curves of Europe to port. Lights from shore and other vessels in the Strait illuminated the water. And somewhere along her way, HMCS Charlottetown entered the Mediterranean Sea and crossed the boundary of the NATO Joint Operational Area. At that moment, the Halifax-based frigate officially became part of the task force of Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR, the NATO counter-terrorism mission in the Mediterreanean Sea. From Gibraltar, HMCS Charlottetown continued east to the naval base in Taranto, Italy, where, on 24 January, she would join the NATO surface fleet. During this deployment — conducted by the Canadian Forces under Operation METRIC— Charlottetown will patrol her area of responsibility in the Mediterranean Sea to detect, deter, and protect against terrorist activity ….”
• Afghanistan (1)  “The Canadian Forces spent $2.4 million last year on training at a facility run by Xe Services, the U.S. private security company formerly known as Blackwater. The company and its training facility were used to teach precision shooting and defensive driving, as well as VIP escort requirements and close quarter combat techniques, according to documents tabled Monday in the House of Commons. It appears the training provided by Xe instructors was for precision shooting and defensive driving. The documents note much of the training in VIP escorting and close quarter combat was done by CF instructors and standards personnel. Special forces members also had precision shooting and defensive driving training at the facility, although for operational security reasons the government wouldn’t say how many trained there. The Department of National Defence made 14 call-ups in 2011 against a standing offer arrangement with Xe, for a total of $567,729, the documents say. Public Works, which is in charge of federal procurement, made another six call-ups and awarded one contract, spending $1,819,023.48. The total spent between the two departments in 2011 was $2,396,346.86 ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  Trenton’s plane, chopper techs busy “de-Afghaning” airframes.  “The country’s largest air base benefits from Cpl. Brittany Purchon’s painstaking paint work. And the volume of that workload for Purchon and her co-workers just went through the roof now that aircraft are coming home from a war zone. With the recent conclusion of the Canadian Forces’ 10-year mission in Afghanistan, came busy times for Royal Canadian Air Forces’ aircraft structures technicians (ACS) like Purchon at Aerospace and Telecommunications Engineering Support Squadron’s (ATESS) refinishing shop. From cleaning, refinishing, and entirely re-painting Griffon CH-416 helicopters to refurbishing pieces of equipment that were first manufactured in-house for military operations in Afghanistan, almost everything gets a second life at the wing’s refinishing shop. For the last eight weeks, Purchon — along with Cpl. Dean Lord, an ACS tech with the 424 Transport Search and Rescue Sqn., and six others out of the 48 posted with ATESS — has been working meticulously on refinishing a Griffon CH-416 helicopter that was used by the army in Afghanistan ….”
• Afghanistan (3)  A statement in the House of Commons reminding us how much still has to be done in Afghanistan.  “Mr. Speaker, recently there have been reports that a young woman in Afghanistan was murdered by her own family simply for giving birth to a baby girl. All too often, the women in Afghanistan pay a severe price simply for being women. Their most basic rights are overlooked, neglected and abused. That is why Canada supports a range of projects in Afghanistan. We want to strengthen the rights of women and girls, make it easier for them to access education and health care, encourage their political involvement and enhance the economic opportunities available to them. On behalf of all Canadians, this government is maintaining our commitment to make a difference in the lives of women and girls in Afghanistan.”
• Way Up North  “Officials are meeting in Iqaluit this week to talk about how all parties involved responded to the tragic plane crash near Resolute, Nunavut, in August. Nunavut RCMP organized the meeting. Representatives from Transport Canada, the military’s Joint Task Force North, northern airlines, and Nunavut’s chief coroner were there for the two-day debrief. The purpose is to discuss best practices from the joint response the agencies took immediately following the crash. “We mustn’t forget about the vastness, ruggedness and the challenges of the North when an incident such as this one unfolds and on how all of our responses materialize,” he said. McVarnock said the participants will come up with a list of recommendations on how to improve their ability to respond to a similar event in the future ….”
• An English professor worries about the long-term usefulness to train university students in military skills via the Canadian Officer Training Corps (COTC) – if it ever comes back.  “…. the point of a revived COTC would not be train undergraduates to be officers per se, but to give them some military experience and teach them the values that come along with military training. And that is the real problem I have with this idea. Military training builds discipline, fitness, and teamwork. But so does, say, dance, and there is no call for a national dance program. Before you object that dance is trivial compared to the military, ask yourself this: would you rather live in a world where no one danced, or a world where no one fought wars? Of course, military service, when performed with honour and dignity, is, at this moment in history, something to be proud of. But we should not fall into the easy, self-congratulatory patriotism that equates all things military with all things good. Service in uniform is a worthy mode of service, but it is not synonymous with “the idea of service itself” as (some would have) it. We need military officers. For now. But we should not let that practical reality blind us to the fact that if we are looking in the very long term, we ought to be working towards a world where we have no need of armies or commanders to lead them. Presuming that military training is an unambiguous benefit for any student is not a good place to start.”
• What’s Canada Buying? (1)  A new “virtual terrain board” (electronic sandbox?) for night vision goggle training at 17 Wing Winnipeg and “document cleansing” software for getting rid of secret stuff before sharing.
• What’s Canada Buying (2)  Trade show for potential sales to Ottawa.  “On Thursday, February 9, 2012 at the Delta Beausejour, Moncton, NB, join Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) / Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME) to learn more about the Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program and the opportunities to do business with the Government of Canada.  There is NO COST to attend this event but registration is mandatory. The Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program (CICP) is a $40 million procurement program, launched as part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to promote Canada’s economic growth as announced in Budget 2010. These events will provide the opportunity for companies to showcase their innovative goods and services to federal departments, as well as allow federal departments to share information on their operations and priorities, and any challenges or needs they are experiencing in program delivery ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (1)  Q&A from the House of Commons yesterday ….  “Ms. Christine Moore (Abitibi—Témiscamingue, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the F-35 program is in free fall. We have learned that a defect in the pilots’ parachutes is grounding some of the aircraft and delaying test flights once again. Moreover, the F-35s are having trouble achieving the transonic acceleration objectives. This file is in need of a qualified pilot, and Canadians do not have a parachute. Will the government admit that, unless we make an emergency landing, the F-35 program is going to crash and burn?  Hon. Julian Fantino (Associate Minister of National Defence, CPC): Mr. Speaker, that is sheer nonsense. A problem was detected in the way the parachutes were packed. The problem is being fixed. I am told that this will not affect the program in the least. It is fear-mongering. It is more of the same. It is rhetoric.”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (2)  …. as well as a bit of a reminder about who got the F-35 ball rolling in the first place.  “Hon. John McKay (Scarborough—Guildwood, Lib.):  Mr. Speaker, India just held an open and transparent competition for its next generation of fighter jets. Here is what a country gets when it holds an open and transparent competition: one, it gets a state-of-the-art jet to meet its own mission needs; two, it gets the best possible jet at the best possible price; and three, it gets a huge boost to a brand new aerospace industry.  Why is the government so afraid of an open and transparent competition?   Hon. Julian Fantino (Associate Minister of National Defence, CPC):  Mr. Speaker, there was a very significant competition. However, the rhetoric from the member opposite is irrefutable evidence of his party’s hypocrisy.  The Liberals initiated Canada’s involvement in the Joint Strike Fighter program in 1997 and in so doing committed $100 million to get it started. Now they have cold feet and want to turn their backs on our men and women in the military and abandon a tool that is critically necessary to the Canadian military.”
• Not much to say about the Canada-U.S. perimeter security deal yet. “The first batch of dozens of deadlines in the Canada-United States perimeter security plan has come and gone, with neither government responding to questions of progress by press time. The border action plan announced in December notes that by Jan. 31 the two governments would “determine the way ahead” on how to share intelligence related to national security. It is the first milestone in the multi-year Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan that will, among many other things, harmonize much of how Canada and the US share information and evidence between their police forces and intelligence agencies. The plan, which lays out a series of deadlines over the next few years, notes that bureaucrats should already be hammering away at a new inventory that will show where Prime Minister Stephen Harper and US President Barack Obama need to plug security holes in order to begin building an impenetrable fortress. But by press time neither the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade nor the US Department of Homeland Security were able to answer any questions about progress, or whether the government had met its deadline ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 31 Jan 12

• Naval Espionage Case  MORE Russian… staff rotations.  “CTV News has learned that two more Russian diplomats have left Canada in the wake of an espionage scandal involving a junior Canadian naval officer. Sources say a defence attaché in Ottawa and a consulate worker in Toronto have been sent back to Russia. The Russian embassy says they left simply because their contracts had ended ….”
• Afghanistan (1)  “Canada intends to keep military trainers in Afghanistan until 2014, according to Defence Minister Peter MacKay, despite France’s announcement last week that it would bring home all its troops a year earlier than planned in 2013. The controversial French decision, which threatens to divide NATO over the pace and scope of the alliance’s troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, was made only days after four of its military trainers were murdered by an Afghan soldier they had been instructing. Canada was also preparing contingency plans in case the situation worsens in Syria or in case a war involving Iran erupts over its nuclear program. The Assad government has been using lethal violence to suppress protesters in Syria and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called Iran’s nuclear program the greatest threat to world peace today. In a marked shift of tone from a few years ago, when he and other government ministers were sharply critical of some European countries for not contributing combat forces in Afghanistan, MacKay said, “We are grateful to France and other countries” involved in NATO operations there. The minister said he was “mindful” of the casualties that France had suffered recently and that “every country must make its own decisions according to its own circumstances.” Speaking about the 925 Canadian trainers still in Afghanistan, MacKay said, “The ground is shifting a bit on some countries’ commitment . . . but we are very solid in our commitment to this through 2014.” ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  “A Canadian soldier who served in Afghanistan says he received a threatening note, written by someone working at Kandahar Airfield, because he is gay. Warrant Officer Andrew McLean, who had tried to hide his sexual orientation, told CBC News that he found the letter on his work station in September, during his 4½-month tour of duty in Kandahar. “It said, ‘You’re gay. Because of this, minus-2′ … that’s metric [for] six feet, 6½ feet under?” McLean said in an interview from Winnipeg, where he recently took part in the Rick Hansen Relay ….”
• What’s Canada Buying? (1)  “Boeing has selected three Canadian firms to receive the first group of work packages for in-service support of 15 Boeing CH-47F Chinook helicopters, designated CH-147F for the Canadian Forces. Following an open competition, Boeing chose the following suppliers: L-3 Communications MAS (Mirabel, Quebec): technical publications; Raytheon Canada Limited (Calgary, Alberta): supply chain support; L-3 Electronic Systems (Enfield, Nova Scotia): logistics support analysis. “Boeing is working with companies across Canada to ensure the right infrastructure is in place to support the Canadian Forces’ CH-147F fleet,” said Jim O’Neill, vice president and general manager, Boeing Integrated Logistics. “We will support the operational readiness of these Chinooks while managing overall life-cycle cost and providing long-term opportunities for the Canadian aerospace industry and workforce.” ….”  More on this here.
• What’s Canada Buying (2)  Wanted: “Integrated Position Keeping Systems (IPKS) in ten (10) of the KINGSTON Class ships” and UAV chopper trailers for DRDC Suffield.
• Way Up North  New boss for CFS Alert
• F-35 Tug o’ War (1)  Associate Minister Fantino’s latest from Question Period:  “…. our Royal Canadian Air Force has flown CF-18s for 30 years. We are working with our allies to replace our aging aircraft with new state of the art F-35s, which will protect international stability for decades to come. Australia faces an immediate challenge in replacing older aircraft much sooner, as we have been doing. We will continue to closely monitor the international development of the F-35 and its capabilities for the Canadian Forces …. Our government is committed to getting the best equipment for our Canadian Forces at the best price for Canadians with the best benefits for Canadian companies and Canadian workers. Canada’s participation in the development of the F-35, along with our closest allies, ensures that the Canadian Forces will have the best equipment to achieve mission success …. we welcome the announcement by the United States, which confirms its commitment to the multinational Joint Strike Fighter. Canada remains committed to the development of the new state-of-the-art aircraft that our brave men and women agree will give them the best probability of mission success well into the 21st century. We continue to monitor the progress of the multinational Joint Strike Fighter program closely and exercise responsible stewardship of taxpayer money.”
• F-25 Tug o’ War (2)  Ceasefire.ca with more of its usual criticism
• F-35 Tug o’ War (3)  Aussies taking a new look at their buy?
• Canadian, Brit wounded warriors spend time together at Whistler.  “A new world of possibility is in store for a group of wounded and injured military personnel who arrived in Whistler on Sunday (Jan. 22) for an eight-day program designed to help them return to an active life. The program introduces eight Canadian and eight British service personnel with a range of physical and psychological injuries to adaptive winter sports in Whistler, with several of Canada’s Paralympic heroes on hand offering advice and encouragement. “There’s a lot of excitement and anticipation about trying new things, challenging the perceptions of others and also more importantly challenging their own perceptions about what they can and can’t do with the injuries that they have,” Maj. (Retd) Martin Colclough told The Question. “It’s all about gaining more self-reliance and… there’s a huge confidence-building element.” Colclough, who is leading the British group, is with Battle Back, a British military initiative that uses adaptive adventure training and sports to help men and women seriously wounded in service adjust to their new physical challenges. The Canadian group, Solider On, is managed by the Canadian Forces Personnel and Family Support Services and likewise provides opportunities for ill or injured Canadian Forces personnel to get active ….”
• A reminder:  The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Canada’s constitution, guarantees the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.  “A Canadian Forces member stationed at 4 Wing Cold Lake has had one count of making child pornography added to a list of five other sexual assault and child-porn related charges he is currently facing. Technology and Internet Crimes Unit special Crown prosecutor Cheryl Schlecker notified the court of the additional charge before the accused’s bail hearing on Jan. 25. Schlecker also made submissions to the court opposing the accused’s request for bail. After hearing submissions at the bail hearing from both the Crown and defence attorney Leighton Grey, Judge Kathleen Williams reserved her decision until Feb. 9. The Crown prosecutor also asked for, and was granted, a ban on the publication of the name of the individual who first contacted the RCMP with the information that led to the investigation ….”
• “Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty journeyed to the West Bank on Monday to beard the Palestinian lions in their den. Over lunch with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, then later with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Foreign Minister Riad Maliki, the Ottawa tag-team went out of its way to impress upon the Palestinian leadership that it should abandon its efforts to obtain United Nations recognition and return to the negotiating table with Israel “without preconditions.” ….”
• Some ideas on how to deal with Iran.  “…. First, Canadian sanctions can be tightened to intensify pressure on the Iranian economy and weaken the regime. The rial recently hit an all-time low against the dollar, and rampant inflation and high unemployment render the government vulnerable …. Second, we need to do more to stop the bloodshed in Syria. This is important not only because thousands of civilians have been killed in the last year at the hands of a murderous regime. It is important also as part of our response to confronting the Iranian threat. Syria is Iran’s greatest regional ally and strategic asset, and the collapse of the al-Assad dynasty would be a blow to Iran’s reach …. Third, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) must be designated as a terrorist entity in Canada. This measure can be taken unilaterally, and would have a real impact on the ability of the IRGC to finance and train terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda; to torture and murder its own citizens; and to participate in business activities that financially benefit the regime ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 30 Jan 12

• Afghanistan (1)  “The commander of the Canadian army says he doubts the international community will have the cash or the political stomach after 2014 to sustain the sprawling Afghan security force being trained by NATO allies. Lt.-Gen. Peter Devlin, the chief of land staff, recently returned from Kabul where roughly 950 Canadians have settled in for a three-year stint under the newly-established training mission. Some of the questions on his mind during a round of meetings with NATO commanders involved whether the Afghan government will have the means of paying for an army and a police force that is expected to top out at 352,000 members. Devlin also wondered if the perceived threat from Taliban insurgents required building a force of that size. Current estimates from the country’s defence minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, see the Afghans spending over $6.2 billion a year to pay and equip their forces. That’s in a country where the budget of the entire federal treasury is $4 billion much of that foreign aid. Devlin, who commanded NATO’s multi-national brigade in Kabul in 2003-04, said the shortfall needs to be recognized. “Is the international community willing to pay for that?” he asked, rhetorically, in a recent interview with The Canadian Press. “And I’m unsure they will be able to pay for that …. It’s my sense.” ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  Ooopsie….  “A Canadian Forces lieutenant-colonel will face a court martial in Gatineau next month in connection with the accidental firing of a rifle at Kabul International Airport. Lt.-Col. Gilles Fortin is the second senior officer to be charged with mishandling a firearm while in Afghanistan …. Lt.-Col. Fortin, a signals officer, was in Kabul last September as part of his work with NATO’s Joint Warfare Centre. A member of the centre’s joint training division, Fortin helped prepare incoming staff officers to take over jobs at ISAF headquarters in Kabul. Military prosecutors allege that on Sept. 1 last year, Fortin accidentally fired one round from his 9mm pistol at Kabul International Airport. He is charged with one count of neglect to the prejudice of good order and discipline, an offence under the National Defence Act ….”
• What’s Canada Buying?  Someone to train troops in martial arts at CFB Borden – more details here (PDF)
• Mark Collins on why the Coast Guard’s 50th anniversary may not be its best.
• Way Up North  “The icebreaker at the heart of Canada’s premier Arctic science program has been pulled from service, leaving researchers scrambling to find other ships to take them to the North. The bright red Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen has become a familiar sight cruising the Arctic. It is a floating home and laboratory for researchers and students studying everything from Inuit health to the transformation underway in the Arctic environment. The ship is also to be featured on Canada’s new $50 bill. But it is now docked in Trois-Rivieres, Que., with four of its six engines “non-operational,” and in need of repairs expected to cost several million dollars and take at least a year. “Numerous repair scenarios are now being considered, but in all cases, the ship will be non-operational until late 2012 or early 2013,” Martin Fortier, executive director of ArcticNet, said in a memo recently sent to scientists who planned to use the ship this year ….”
• Omar Khadr, back in (at least some of) the headlines thanks to a new book coming out.  “In a revealing new book, The Enemy Within, the Sun’s Ezra Levant brings Omar Khadr’s story back into the public eye. Having completed his U.S. sentence in October 2011, Omar Khadr could return to Canada at any time. He may well be released, thanks to a lenient system that will likely credit him for the time he has served awaiting trial in Guantanamo Bay. With Parliament back in session, Levant brings his razor-sharp perspective to bear on a story that is vital to our notions of citizenship and justice, and to our national security ….”
• ‘As a Cold War-era fighter pilot, one of Chris Hadfield’s jobs was to intercept Soviet bombers nearing Canadian airspace to test North American air defences. Now, some of his best friends are Russian, the former Canadian Forces pilot and astronaut said. For a few years, the Sarnia native has been training to co-pilot the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station with the flight’s Russian commander, Roman Romanenko. “We really respect one another. And, as astronauts, we understand the historical significance of what we are doing: we are leaving Earth as a species,” said Hadfield. The flight’s three-person crew, which includes NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, will depart in November for the International Space Station, where they’ll live for six months as part of Expedition 34/35. Hadfield will take command of the station in March 2013, when American Commander Kevin Ford returns to Earth in a Soyuz. And, if all goes to plan, Hadfield will return in May 2013, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 29 Jan 12

• Way Up North  “Soldiers have begun setting up a base camp just outside Yellowknife for Exercise Arctic Ram, which starts Feb. 14. The Canadian Forces have taken over part of the sand pits off Highway 3, a popular recreational area for Yellowknifers. An advance party of 60 soldiers drove from Edmonton, with stops in Peace River, Alta., and Hay River, N.W.T., and another 210 are expected over the weekend to set up support for the 1,500 military personnel that will be in the Tlicho region next month. “We’re setting up the work areas for when the main group comes in and we’re able to supply them with food and accommodations,” said Master Warrant Officer Douglas Pettie, sergeant major for the camp and the exercise’s Forward Support Group. “The main basis of this exercise is to test our men and equipment and our clothing in the north, because we’re normally in a much more southern wintertime climate, and it’s definitely very cold here” ….”
• “In spite of ongoing assurances from Veterans Affairs that all veterans are properly cared for, veteran hospitals, and the generous suite of medical and holistic services they offer, remain closed to all veterans who joined after the Korean War. Instead, soldiers who joined the military after 1953, and are suffering from a service-related disability, or are simply in need of long-term care, are relegated to provincial health care, with the option of applying to Veterans Affairs Canada for any additional care to be delivered through the provincial system. It’s a two-tiered system that has veterans affairs advocates, including retired air force captain Sean Bruyea, pushing for changes that would allow all veterans access the same care. “All World War II veterans, whether they served two years in the front line, six months back home handing out army boots, or even two days in England un-crating Spam, were, and are, entitled to access to long-term care at veteran hospitals,” said Bruyea, who was released from the Canadian Forces mainly as a result of combat stress associated with serving in the first Gulf War. “Shouldn’t those who served in the field hospitals of the Gulf War, the Medak pocket of the former Yugoslavia and the hostile hills around Kandahar deserve the same assistance in both young and old age?” Bruyea asked ….”
• Terry Glavin about why Canada should be careful about wanting to get too close to China and the PM’s,  “…. unexplained and sudden embrace of a corporate entity run by the Chinese Communist Party that serves as the guarantor of Omar al-Bashir’s regime in Khartoum, the bottomless overdraft in Bashar al-Assad’s bank account in Damascus, and the specific means by which Tehran’s Khomeinists are evading the West’s sanctions and double-daring us into a war ….”
• “Two federal ministers have put up a “not welcome” sign for members of Hamas, a banned terrorist group in Canada, who might attend an International Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in Quebec City this fall. QMI Agency has obtained a letter that Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney have sent to the speakers of the House of Commons and the Senate. “We would also note that Canada is hosting the 127th IPU Assembly in Quebec City from October 21-26, 2012, and that the costs of this event are being borne virtually entirely by Canadian taxpayers,” said Baird and Kenney in the letter. “Should the IPU indicate to you that they are willing to welcome Hamas, we would suggest that Canada decline to host this meeting.” ….”
• “Rumour has it Belhassen Trabelsi, the so-called “Godfather” of Tunisia, has left Montreal for Mexico, following in the footsteps of Moammar Gadhafi’s son in search of a country with lax anti-corruption and extradition laws. A newspaper in Tunisia reported two weeks ago that Trabelsi, whose fortune reportedly runs in the billions of dollars, first left Canada for Venezuela hoping for a warmer welcome, before settling on Mexico. There have been no sightings of him since. But rumours may just be rumours – and observers in Montreal believe Trabelsi is still in Canada, a hot potato the federal government probably wishes it could pass on to another country, as the Immigration, Foreign Affairs and Justice departments struggle to figure out what to do with him next ….”  More on the missing Tunisian bad boy here, here and (with the usual Wikipedia caveats) here.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 28 Jan 12

• Afghanistan  More Toronto Star push on the Afghan interpreter trying to get to Canada.  “A Canadian Army commander and a senior diplomat denied a highly praised Afghan combat interpreter a Canadian visa after wrongly accusing him of taking his stalled case to the news media, an internal document shows. The former head of Canada’s elite special forces and our deputy ambassador to Afghanistan turned down Sayed Shah Sharifi’s visa application last fall, just weeks after complaining to the Star. They didn’t believe Sharifi’s claims that the Taliban want to kill him for assisting Canadian combat troops, an essential qualification for a visa under a special federal program. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced in 2009 that he wanted to protect Afghans who could show “individual risk” because they had worked with Canadians in Kandahar province, the Taliban heartland. Two members of the panel, called a “joint referral committee,” that decided Sharifi’s case are identified on an immigration department form as Col. J.P. Davis of the Canadian Army and Shelley Whiting, Canada’s deputy ambassador in Kabul. They also signed the document, dated Oct. 5, 2011, which tersely declares Sharifi “ineligible.” ….”  Previous pushes via the paper here, here, here and here.
• What’s Canada Buying?  For Afghanistan:  security system to let folks into/out of Afghanistan complexes, and IT networks to let allies keep in touch with each other.
• No word on whether the CBC reporter in question is willing to share the “obtained” documents.  “A Sea King emergency landing demonstration piloted by Prince William led to positive coverage in the media — for the helicopter. The Canadian Forces were pleased with the positive coverage given to the July 4, 2011 flight, according to documents released under federal Access to Information laws. The second in line to the British throne flew a Sea King over Dalvay Lake, P.E.I., as part of last year’s Royal Tour with his wife, Kate Middleton. The Duke of Cambridge is a Royal Air Force helicopter pilot and known professionally as Flight Lt. William Wales. The couple was well-received across Canada, drawing huge crowds on their nine-day tour. A brief email from the man who co-piloted the CH 124 helicopter notes the flight went “very well.” “Flight was conducted [in accordance with] normal [Waterbird standard operating procedures] and flight profile,” said an email about the flight ….”
• “A U.S. Navy diver working from a Canadian ship off the North Carolina coast died during training operations Thursday, Naval Expeditionary Combat Command announced Friday. The diver’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The diver, assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 12, was embarked on HMCS Summerside during preparations to take part in Bold Alligator, a major amphibious training exercise slated to begin Jan. 30. The diver was transported to Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, N.C., and pronounced dead on arrival, said Lt. Cmdr. John Gay, a command spokesman ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 27 Jan 12

• Where do we move those search-and-rescue planes?  (BTW, no sign of the Toronto Star sharing the “obtained” report)  “The military’s response to search-and-rescue calls could be improved by moving aircraft out of Canada’s largest East Coast base, according the air force’s most recent performance analysis. But the study finds little reason for a dedicated Arctic rescue team, despite high-profile disasters last year that led to renewed calls for a more robust northern presence. The report, obtained by the Star under the Access to Information Act, proposes moving two Hercules more than 600 kilometres north from their Nova Scotia home to Stephenville, N.L. The Greenwood, N.S., transport and rescue squadron has been based there since 1968, responsible for distress calls over an almost 5.2 million-square-kilometre area stretching from Quebec City east to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and from Nova Scotia north to Iqaluit. Using a formula that weighs geographic coverage of Canada with response times to distress calls, the 2011 report says the move could provide a substantial improvement in performance.  An RCAF spokesperson said that the study, along with ongoing plans to purchase new search-and-rescue airplanes when the current fleets are removed from service between 2015 and 2017, will be used to determine the best locations for Canada’s search-and-rescue crews. “This study will be used with many others to inform future decisions on SAR basing,” Maj. Sonia Dumouchel Connock said in an email ….”
• Libya  New tyrants, same as the old tyrants?  “The new leaders of Libya, helped to power by an air war waged by Canada and major allies, were denounced as torturers Thursday by major international groups. The Canadian leader of Amnesty International called on the Harper government to use its influence with Libya’s new transitional government to put an end to the abuse of prisoners, documented by the organization in a new report. And Doctors Without Borders said it was suspending its work in Libyan prisons because of rampant torture of detainees. The group said it was pulling out of the city of Misrata because some detainees were brought for care only to make them fit for further interrogation. Amnesty said several detainees have died after being subjected to torture in recent weeks and months, and cited wide-spread, ill-treatment of loyalists of deposed dictator, Moammar Gadhafi ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (1a)  “U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed Thursday that $488 billion U.S. in Pentagon budget cuts will affect his country’s plans to purchase the troubled F-35 joint strike fighter — which likely will threaten Canada’s timeline for acquiring the stealth fighter as well ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (1b)  “The federal government is reviewing Canada’s planned purchase of up to 65 F-35s after U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed Thursday his country will be slowing production on the troubled stealth fighters. Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino said in a statement the government is still committed to the F-35 program, but that he had ordered defence department officials in Ottawa to investigate what implications the Pentagon’s decision would have on Canada ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (1c)  Associate Minister Fantino’s update: “…. We continue to monitor the progress of the multinational Joint Strike Fighter Program closely and exercise responsible stewardship of taxpayers’ hard earned dollars. “That is why I have instructed officials to review the implications of the United States’ announcement on Canadian Forces’ readiness so that they may be incorporated into preparations for the replacement of our aging CF-18 fleet. “Information we have received indicates that the impact on Canada’s procurement plans is minimal at this stage. As has been the case up to the present, we will continue to monitor developments closely ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (2)  “…. With U.S. defense budget cuts looming and many critics of the program still unconvinced, foreign support is a make-or-break issue for the program, which has been described as too big to fail. It could become the cornerstone of global air strategy for the next few decades, or a trillion-dollar bust. “The U.S. fighter jet industry has all of its eggs in this one basket,” said Richard Bitzinger, a security expert at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. So many countries have bought into the program, he said, there is now no realistic choice but to forge ahead with it. “It would be almost impossible for the U.S. to cancel the F-35, since the repercussions would be global,” he said ….”
• “The manufacturer of the air force’s new maritime helicopter has told National Defence it will deliver only five test aircraft this year — opening the door to tens of millions of dollars in fines on a project the auditor general has said is late and over budget. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is supposed to deliver a “fully mission capable” version of the CH-148 Cyclone helicopter by June, or face a further $80 million in contract penalties on top of $8 million the federal government has already levied. Senior defence officials say safety certification of the aircraft is still ongoing and it’s highly unlikely the giant U.S. aircraft-maker will meet its target, even though the program is years behind schedule. “Sikorsky are only committing to deliver five by this year, which will be training aircraft,” said a high-level defence source, who spoke to The Canadian Press on the condition of anonymity. The Cyclones are the highly touted replacement for the CH-124 Sea Kings, which will mark a milestone 50 years in service in 2013 ….”
• What’s Canada Buying?  Someone to carry out “analysis and software development in order to prototype a system that makes use of various COTS and OEM software used in mine countermeasures (MCM) operations …. to demonstrate ene-to-end MCM operation with Autonomous Underwater Vehicles …. ” and someone to “…. design and fabricate an underwater magnetic signature collection system which is essentially the array and the associated interface components and connecting cables …. in support of the Halifax Class Modernization Project (to) be used to measure the magnetic signature of Canadian warships when they are deployed on operations around the world ….”
• Happy 50th, Canadian Coast Guard, from the PM and the Defence Minister!
• “The family of a woman murdered by convicted sex killer Russell Williams is suing the former military commander and his estranged wife. Williams, who was once a rising star in the Canadian Forces, was sentenced to life in prison in October 2010 after pleading guilty to the murders of Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau. Lloyd’s brother, Andy, says he and Lloyd’s mother, Roxanne, have filed a statement of claim in Belleville’s Ontario Superior Court of Justice which, among other details, seeks damages for the mental suffering they say they’ve had to endure. Andy Lloyd, 31, says the family wants a fast resolution to the suit so that they can put the experience behind them and move on with their lives. He says the last two years have been “quite a struggle” and both he and his mother are seeing counsellors for the depression they’ve had to deal with ….”  More on this here.
• “Five years after Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a historic apology to Chinese Canadians, a new photo exhibition opened today in Vancouver honouring the history of World War II veterans of Chinese heritage. Nearly 100 people packed into the exhibit launch of the multi-room archive of photographs, anecdotes and documents – titled Chinese Canadian Veterans: Loyalty to Country – today at the Chinese Cultural Centre. Roughly a quarter were veterans themselves, many of whom guided visitors around the exhibit and shared their stories of both heroism and discrimination ….”