MILNEWS.ca News Highlights –February 26, 2013

• “The federal government plans to slash $4.9 billion in discretionary spending in the next year – with the Department of National Defence bearing the brunt of cuts, while departments involved in the Conservatives’ law and order agenda are spared.  The plan was unveiled Monday as Treasury Board President Tony Clement tabled the government’s main budgetary estimates for 2013-14 (433 page PDF) in the House of Commons ….” – more on the cuts from the Treasury Board Info-machine here, and specific details of what’s happening to the Department of National Defence here (6 page PDF)
• More on cuts  ” “There’s no place like home” could become the battle cry of the Canadian military as spending on overseas operations is forecast to take a steep dive.  Internal Defence Department reports show total spending on foreign deployments could drop to just $5 million in the 2014-15 fiscal year from the current anticipated level of $476 million.  The figures are contained in a June 1, 2012 financial report by the Department’s assistant deputy minister of finance.  The report was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act ….”  No word on the documents being shared yet, so no word on what else is there.
• As the CF prepares to “re-write of the Canada First Defence Strategy” after the next budget, the CF’s Info-machine shares a story of one mechanic making the strategy work in the Canada’s North.
• Canadian defence think tank paper “The Strategic Outlook for Canada” (80 page PDF) – some highlights in the think tank news release here
• Canada launches (on an Indian rocket) a satellite to keep track of what’s in space  “Sapphire, Canada’s first dedicated operational military satellite, was successfully launched today from Sriharikota, India, by the Indian Space Research Organization ….” – more from mainstream media here, here, here and here.
• ceasefire.ca:  Stop killer drones with your e-mails!
• PETA still trying to get Canada out of the “using animals to do military medical training and research” game (although one wonders how a PETA-ite would react to being told s/he’d need a pig’s heart valve to live)
  
• CBC Radio documentary on a former military chaplain dealing with post traumatic stress – a bit of the story here, and a link to the audio (~24 minutes) here
• Veterans Affairs Minister helps kick off app (“before it is made widely available later this year”) to help vets deal with post traumatic stress – more on what appears to be an American version here
  
• Columnist:  Canada’s foreign affairs minister not paying enough attention to Syria’s rebels

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