Canadian military to spend a billion on armed drones

The Canadian military intends to spend about one billion dollars on armed drones. The military claims that the drones will enable Canadian Forces to fill critical deficiencies and are needed in the Arctic.

Even during Canadian participation in the war in Libya senior Canadian defence officials were itching to use the occasion to spend up to 600 million on armed drones to use in the conflict according to documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. The war ended but not the desire to obtain armed drones. Now the military-industrial complex is at it again.
Even though the Conservative Harper government is all for reducing our budget deficit as quickly as possible that can be done by cutting social programs. What is crucial is to have armed drones that can be used to defend the Canadian Arctic. No doubt they can also help out in U.S. or NATO adventures around the globe. The Chief of Staff of the Canadian Forces General Walter Natyncyk is closely linked to the U.S. military and was a high official in the Iraq war even though Canada was supposedly not involved. Canada even awarded him a medal for service in a war in which we refused to take part. According to Wikipedia:

""Natynczyk attended the U.S. Army War College, and was subsequently appointed Deputy Commanding General, III Corps and Fort Hood.  In January 2004, he deployed with III Corps to Baghdad, Iraq, serving first as the Deputy Director of Strategy, Policy and Plans, and subsequently as the Deputy Commanding General of the Multi-National Corps (Iraq) during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Natynczyk led the Corps' 35,000 soldiers, consisting of 10 separate brigades, stationed throughout the Iraq Theatre of Operations... He was later awarded the Meritorious Service Cross specifically for his combat efforts in Operation Iraqi Freedom January 2004 to January 2005.""

The Harper Conservative government already approved last month that a request be sent out to various aerospace firms to ascertain what is available. Companies must provide relevant information by Sept. 28.
The Canadian Forces had already been using unarmed surveillance drones in Afghanistan but have long been wanting to move on to the purchase of armed drones. Back in 2007 the Ottawa Citizen had reported that the Defence Department requested approval to buy Predator drones for the Afghan mission. The purchase was never made however as there were concerns that there would be no competitive bidding. No doubt there might have been some concern for the political fallout as well.
   Instead the Canadians leased Israeli-built unarmed Heron drones from MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates of B.C. U.S. firms are already aware that the Canadian military is anxious to purchase drones, no doubt with government support. Northrop Grumman made a pitch to the Conservative government at a trade show in May this year to sell the military a fleet of Global Hawk drones. These drones could patrol the Arctic. However the Hawks are not armed and are useful only for surveillance. The military wants drones that can pack a punch or as they put it should be able to carry precision-guided munitions: The military claims::"This capability will allow the CF (Canadian Forces) to fill critical deficiencies”.Apparently lack of armed drones are critical deficiencies in our defense budget and no doubt this is a much higher funding priority than critical deficiencies in our health care system such as long waiting times
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A Carbon Tax is the Wrong Approach

As I read this I was wondering if the Ottawa Citizen had been bought out by friends of Harper or the Canadian Taxpayer''s Association but then I find that it was just Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources, using the Citizen as a free propaganda vehicle. This is from the Ottawa Citizen.


Monday » June 2 » 2008

A carbon tax is the wrong approach

The Ottawa Citizen
Monday, June 02, 2008
We have all felt the pinch at the pumps recently, as the price of gas has risen in leaps and bounds.
The opposition has said the government should fix the price -- while at the same time calling for massive gas taxes. This is hypocritical.
Canadians are smart. They know that the world price of oil and gas is based on supply and demand. With countries like China and India growing very quickly, their demand grows, and so there is a higher price.
Stéphane Dion's carbon tax plan (which could be the largest tax increase in our nation's history) would push gas prices and heating oil prices to record levels, and this would have a domino effect and push up the cost of everything we buy, sell, or trade.
Food, services and even goods we export would rise in cost.
That is not good for our economy, and especially hard on middle- and low-income families. Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton would probably be fine, but average hard-working Canadians, particularly those people with fixed incomes, would suffer.
Since coming to office just over two years ago our Conservative government has taken actions that will provide nearly $200 billion in tax relief over 2007-08 and the following five years. This will reduce the federal tax burden to its lowest point in nearly 50 years.
That means Canadians are keeping more of what they earn. In fact, with the GST being reduced to five per cent, Canadians will save half a billion dollars more on gas alone this year. At the same time, we have invested more than $9 billion in green programs, while forcing big oil and big industry to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. Canadians know how to choose between higher taxes and lower taxes.
With Stéphane Dion we would hurt Canada's economy, and hurt low and middle-income families who can't afford his massive carbon tax.
Gary Lunn, Ottawa
Minister of Natural Resources
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

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