True Patriot Love - Canada’s $88B Defense Build-Up： Are We Actually Ready？

00:00:00.000 according to a recent poll support for increased spending on national defense of the armed forces

00:00:09.680 of canada is at a 30-year high in this country that's a good thing because mark carney and the

00:00:14.400 liberals are about to embark on a massive spending increase on our armed forces the likes of which

00:00:19.520 we have not seen in 60 or 70 years to talk more about it thrilled to be joined by as always paul

00:00:24.800 micucci paul how are you good jim how are you doing 80 81 billion pledged in the 2025 budget

00:00:32.080 uh six billion of that goes towards infrastructure uh roads you know and that's why you've seen

00:00:39.040 um this new in uh defense industrial strategy um and that's uh melanie joe lee's kind of bailiwick so

00:00:47.600 that's why you see uh honorable david mcginty joe lee and someone i'm not that familiar with steven fuhrer

00:00:54.480 which a great addition because he served in the armed forces he was an f-18 pilot was in the

00:00:59.200 military and he understands some of the issues maybe the non-sexy issues such as infrastructure

00:01:07.200 and housing and mcginty and fear announcing just this week that they're spending hundreds of

00:01:11.760 millions of dollars to increase proper facilities housing facilities in the different bases in canada

00:01:17.440 upgraded ones new ones because if they're going to have more personnel and more spending you need the

00:01:23.360 facilities accommodated yeah well brian instead and i did an amazing show on that one where he

00:01:29.040 we actually went through with him and he told us how he lived through his military career and it was

00:01:35.360 it was terrible like when he told us the stories and you know he would he would sleep in uh homes

00:01:42.640 that basically uh had walls falling down had mold i grew up in it yeah my dad was in the air force crazy

00:01:49.200 and a lot of the military housing i grew up in with my father in the 70s and 80s they eventually

00:01:53.840 had to tear them down yeah they couldn't be repaired oh yeah that's what he was telling us like it just

00:01:58.400 it was it was crazy and the fact that you know you'd sit on a waiting list for three years sometimes

00:02:04.640 just to get into something on base absolutely yeah i didn't know any of that honestly it's all new to me

00:02:11.040 and here's the issue too if you think about canadian forces base cold lake alberta patawalla ontario

00:02:18.160 bagoville quebec gates town new brunswick all the different bases a lot of them are quite remote

00:02:23.920 it's not like there's apartment buildings just outside the gates yeah you're limited where you can

00:02:28.800 live exactly and they're stuck there yes like that's their life for however long they're commissioned

00:02:34.720 to be there yeah and the only time you get out there is on um deployment like we have in latvia now

00:02:40.560 or they're on a nato assignment or they've gone to different countries but for the most part when

00:02:44.240 you're in garrison on base you're on those remote bases yeah no i agree jim and you know i found it

00:02:49.920 interesting so they wrote a paper so this paper came out yes and they announced that these you know

00:02:55.040 these uh three ministers became the cohorts that make up this defense strategy and they're they're

00:03:01.040 responsible for ruling it out they're the ones who kind of they're the they're the board that oversees

00:03:06.560 procurement the rollout everything else you know and they started off which is you know and you know

00:03:11.840 me i'd like to read the reports i'm like the analytics and the numbers you know they start

00:03:16.240 off the report talking about how volatile the world is and how dangerous it is for canadians

00:03:22.960 but they're right but you know we as canadians don't think that so we don't like it's very interesting so

00:03:28.560 you know uh they started off and they said you know the world's changing it's now more dangerous

00:03:36.400 for us as a nation more volatile we need to put some money towards this and start to get resources

00:03:42.640 rolling out and you know i thought about it after and i thought to myself well of course right number

00:03:49.120 one the number of borders the number of access into canada as a nation is crazy silly well it's

00:03:55.280 unlike any other country in the world right second largest country in the world with huge amounts of

00:04:01.200 space that basically is uninhabited exactly so and you know so this is a monumental task so the the

00:04:07.280 dollar spent just because of the size of the nation is is really fitting so you know and i think it's a

00:04:14.560 great idea the task is overwhelming and i think that's a little bit what i read into this this defense

00:04:20.720 strategy which kind of came out pretty quickly was again they're talking about a 10-year period

00:04:28.160 and i'm like okay i think they need to my first kind of critique of it when i read it and we've

00:04:33.200 said this on other shows i think we got to narrow it down i think we got to kind of and the thing that

00:04:38.560 i think we got to start to do when we do these press conferences and we do these releases is we have to

00:04:45.120 get more granular such as more detail because when we go into this paper right so they're right now

00:04:52.640 what they're talking about is they're talking about um well and let me go through them and then i'll

00:04:57.520 explain as i go through so they really have kind of a number of pillars um the first pillar being build

00:05:04.000 world-leading canadian firms in key sovereign capability areas correct right so they're talking about

00:05:12.240 building at home they're talking about getting people um equipped there's 600 and i didn't even

00:05:18.240 know this they're uh categorized as uh defense or military companies and apparently there's 600 in

00:05:25.600 canada i believe it yeah oh yeah it's a big and i i didn't even realize part of the economy people

00:05:30.880 don't realize yeah it's uh around 200 000 people right but think about the shipbuilding going on in

00:05:38.320 halifax in quebec city in c-span and bc how many people employed there not to forget bombardier

00:05:45.280 in quebec and obviously mississauga as well rochelle mississauga it it is across the country it is you

00:05:52.720 know and i was like okay that's a great statement i'm i'm good right raise maritime fleet service ability

00:06:00.000 to 75 percent of land fleets to 80 percent and aerospace fleets to 85 percent to meet training and

00:06:06.720 operational readiness requirements so basically this is the ability to service your own fleet

00:06:13.120 right so they've had some challenges with that they realize it yeah what people don't realize is

00:06:18.160 that say a warship whether it's the u.s navy canadian navy whatever navy they have they go on a

00:06:24.560 deployment for instance the gerald ford aircraft carrier will by the time it gets back home the united

00:06:29.840 states will abandon deployment almost a calendar year yeah so after it comes back it has to basically go and

00:06:36.000 dry dock for a short period and do an overhaul maintenance oh yeah how many people are living

00:06:41.520 on that thing almost six thousand yeah so you can imagine you know the wear and tear on that vessel

00:06:46.800 right and then then they'll say okay then we'll do a workup and then we're ready to go back and then

00:06:52.000 then you'll have a sort of a medium term upgrade and overhaul then you have a long-term upgrade and

00:06:58.480 overhaul so military equipment unfortunately because it's used so hard and in such intense ways

00:07:05.120 it's land sea and air that you have to do this regular maintenance short-term medium-term long-term

00:07:11.040 every once in a while to keep it going there's no way around it right and it's been a struggle

00:07:14.800 right that's because we had very aging equipment and quite frankly it got to the point where

00:07:19.760 there wasn't anyone in the military who knew how to fix it anymore right so we were struggling with

00:07:23.760 that absolutely i mean our guided missile frigates the halifax class frigates were built in the

00:07:29.200 early 90s yeah they're running to the end of their life a lot of our tanks are from the 80s and 90s

00:07:34.640 our f-18s are built in the 80s the the technicians and the mechanics and the specialists are great at

00:07:41.520 what they do but they can only do so much paul yeah you know they can't perform miracles exactly

00:07:47.280 increase the share of defense acquisitions award to canadian firms to 70 which is something you and

00:07:52.480 i have talked about on shows before yes accelerate procurement to uh successful canadian defense r d

00:07:59.120 innovations now that's big that's big that means research and development and that means future

00:08:05.200 systems future software future computer systems used in all forms the military now coming from

00:08:11.520 canadian firms as a country right we have some of the world-class leading software students computer

00:08:17.680 scientists physicists mathematicians to me that only makes sense yeah it does well there and they do

00:08:23.120 talk about getting universities involved and getting research grants and everything which i thought was

00:08:27.840 that part of it i loved boost government investment in defense related research and development to 85

00:08:36.400 spending on yourself spending on yourself increase total canadian defense industry revenues uh by more than

00:08:42.480 240 percent so for those 600 plus or whatever it grows to a number of firms increase the revenues going

00:08:49.120 out to them now do you want to talk about a growth industry in canada the next five to ten years

00:08:53.760 you know it's funny i'm reading this and i'm thinking to myself i wonder what i can do

00:08:58.320 i did i'm thinking i don't even know so but uh paul's military procurement system

00:09:05.360 i wish my ex-brother-in-law was still alive because he was a welder fitter i'd have him going in a minute

00:09:10.080 building come on come on well he used to build uh he went up to gm and he did the locomotives

00:09:15.280 oh is that right and then yeah gm had the uh armored cars uh yeah the ones that built london yeah yeah

00:09:22.080 so he was working up there everyone okay period um grow defense revenues for canadian small and medium

00:09:29.200 sized businesses by more than five billion annually and that is the startup businesses who have a plan

00:09:36.960 and and you know what a big part of this is paul yep what they've learned the lesson from ukraine

00:09:41.440 is drones oh yeah a small drone that can can do great damage in the battlefield so these small

00:09:49.680 businesses who have new innovative ways to mass produce small medium-sized large drones that can

00:09:57.200 be used for surveillance for battle for defense and whatnot that's the future of the military the ukraine's

00:10:03.280 proven that every day yeah well it's interesting so on another unrelated podcast i listened to it one

00:10:08.960 day and it was really interesting the gentleman on it which you know i won't mention but he was really

00:10:14.800 good he actually had a video game development company he actually switched the company into drones

00:10:24.080 and to military requirements for the us it was much more profitable he didn't have to deal with all the

00:10:29.600 marketing and development issues he had to do on the gaming side and he went into it and he's doing

00:10:34.400 really well um and he he's actually building um drones and other things at like one one hundredth of the

00:10:42.320 cost right like it's not even it's not even crazy cost the technology is not even crazy but you know he's

00:10:49.760 taking pre-existing uh ammunitions and weapons he's attaching them to drones and other other items that

00:10:55.840 he's building robotics and he's actually launching them into market and the the you know the us military

00:11:02.480 which is what uh one trillion going to 1.5 trillion now yeah right and that's how crazy we're talking

00:11:09.600 um you know 80 billion dollars over so many years but you know they're one trillion a year so that's the

00:11:15.840 the scope uh but he he's doing that very successfully and in making uh living and i think on the show i think

00:11:23.200 his age was 30. so he's like a billion dollar company his age is 30 and he does weapons through

00:11:29.760 through his his actually uh background being video gaming and paul what vladimir zelinski ukraine has

00:11:38.000 taught all the nations around the world is if you have a decent drone and someone who can operate it

00:11:43.840 you could send that drone far away from the drone operator take out a building or a tank or a plane

00:11:50.640 and not risk a human life at the other end yeah there's there's it's it's it's a drone it's a

00:11:56.640 little robot vehicle doing the doing the work yeah yeah and and it costs a fraction and i mean think

00:12:03.520 about the human cost it's a lot less it's a lot less yeah so and the the last one they had and

00:12:10.320 there's it goes into detail which i'll talk about in a minute but create 125 000 new jobs in this industry

00:12:16.560 yes so as this develops you know so so it goes to like you mentioned a very big industry in canada

00:12:22.800 now with jobs that'll pay well tax revenue back into the economy especially if they procure the

00:12:30.480 sab contract to build those sab grip and fighter jets and bernardier in quebec they already got the

00:12:35.200 shipbuilding contracts they're signing contracts right now depending whether it's germany or south

00:12:40.320 korea that sells those 12 submarines to the canadian navy to have special dry docks to service the

00:12:46.640 submarines in canadian ports well i need i saw last night anita nan is actually in korea today

00:12:53.120 um signing a bunch of procurement agreements well with the government and then what i understand and

00:13:00.320 i think you've said it as well that would mean that hyundai would build a manufacturing plant to build

00:13:04.960 cars in ontario yeah so they would build hyundai cars in ontario and we'd buy the submarines and i i

00:13:12.400 for a lot of reasons i'd be surprised if south korea doesn't get the contract for the submarines for

00:13:18.560 canada a for the platform it is and for the the fact that they promise they can get one new submarine

00:13:25.280 into our navy in such a short period of time because you mentioned the 10 years so you mentioned how

00:13:29.760 dangerous the world is according to the bbc that an expert on and the mi6 and the british army are

00:13:37.840 deathly afraid of what's going to happen within the next five to 10 years in the europe in the world oh

00:13:43.120 yeah and that putin's not just stopping at ukraine so the impetus the uh you know the urgency to get

00:13:51.520 new kit new equipment new troops and people are trained and ready to go is more important now than i

00:13:58.000 think in our lifetime paul well yeah no and i agree and and when i read through this that's the thing

00:14:03.520 that i'm asking next so it's interesting you know before the show i mentioned to you said okay great

00:14:08.480 you know in any business any business plan any ecosystem for a business that you build you have

00:14:13.040 to figure out kind of the who what why where how so i go through this and you know um i like the idea

00:14:19.920 you know i like that they're actually thinking about a defense strategy they're now you know

00:14:24.160 unfortunately when you read through it they're talking about holding committees uh bringing in

00:14:29.280 people getting input getting feedback they're talking there's a lot of classic canadian procurement

00:14:34.640 right exactly there's a lot of touchy-feely stuff through this but there's no hard and you know it's

00:14:39.840 funny there is a there is a page you know a page 17 where and i thought to myself man this is the page

00:14:45.760 i want to see i got to page 17 i'm looking at it and it breaks down uh sob key sovereign capabilities

00:14:53.440 and it says aerospace ammunitions digital systems in service support uh personal protection sensors

00:15:03.360 space specialized specialized manufacturing training and simulation and uncrewed and autonomous systems

00:15:11.440 that's the key right there yeah well it is but you know what jim what i want to see now so i get here

00:15:17.280 and i turn i go to the next page and i go back to oh i'm back into kind of gobbledygook again i'm

00:15:23.120 back into you know and i i got here and i'm thinking oh now i'm here right now i'm going to start to see

00:15:29.360 the sequence of what i'm actually again buy it build it buy it build it and then what are my

00:15:35.840 distributed what are my priorities yes right so if i'm looking at all these things i can't have them all

00:15:41.600 today but i can have them throughout the 10 years when am i going to have them which one is the

00:15:45.840 biggest priority for me what is my biggest risk how do i allocate my risk all this i'm looking for

00:15:51.120 it i'm almost looking for a business plan of defense but and i'm thinking to myself should i should i

00:16:00.400 write him a letter and see if he has time because i listen minister i will come up and i will sit down

00:16:06.560 and i can work with you on it because quite frankly we can do this right but paul unfortunately as a

00:16:11.760 government the way everything's evolved in the last four decades when it comes to the canadian armed

00:16:16.640 forces and the way our government works in the country yeah until a cruise missile hits a building

00:16:22.560 in canada until someone drops paul i know i hate this i hate until something like that happens then

00:16:28.640 everyone throws their hands in the air i know and the government will rush to the companies and start

00:16:32.960 building stuff that day number yeah the remember the four towers right yeah and 9 11 right it's just

00:16:40.080 the problem is do we need a human tragedy apparently i know but all the experts the highest military and

00:16:47.520 intelligence experts in the world are pointing to direct threats there are on the horizon right now

00:16:54.000 this is not something theoretical this is actually happening and it's not a matter if it's going to

00:16:59.520 happen it's just a matter when it's going to happen right so you have to start building and preparing

00:17:04.720 and getting ready right now not having a committee about it we've had decades of committees exactly and

00:17:10.480 and i don't you know what i encourage when i read through here i don't want to outsource it to a

00:17:16.080 consultant group no like i don't want generals exactly because when i'm reading through here the thing

00:17:22.400 i'm kind of seeing is i'm going through the whole thing and i'm reading page by page sitting there you

00:17:27.200 know in my office and i'm thinking to myself i could see this being a great consulting contract

00:17:32.880 right make a lot of money yeah you know we get one of the big five consulting firms come in they

00:17:38.240 chunk it all up they start to tell them you know what your priorities is they run it for a year

00:17:44.000 because fees are great and i'm like come on now seriously we've been doing this a long time you

00:17:48.400 got to tell me so you got to tell me do i need what do i need to be doing in aerospace well if you

00:17:54.160 go to the command of the air force they need fighter jets like today today and you know what

00:17:59.280 do i need to be doing with satellites surveillance and all that stuff they have they have a contract

00:18:05.360 set yes to start building a surveillance system but that will take months and months until it's ready

00:18:11.040 exactly but they need to start the construction as soon as possible but you know we we as a country

00:18:16.320 uh are leaders in uh aerospace satellite technology yes we are yeah we are up in ottawa you have some of the

00:18:22.880 best firms in the world absolutely you know the space arm everything so we that that is something

00:18:28.480 we can do absolutely right now ammunition we already do it but we could do more and these

00:18:35.280 people that are out of work and these factories that are basically lying lying still yeah ramp them

00:18:40.320 up retool them which has been done in the past to make the stuff that they'll need so let's grab a map

00:18:46.480 right let's grab a map we had did a show yesterday on winnipeg and some of the challenges that

00:18:52.000 uh manitoba's having perfect city centrally located open up open ups you want to employ some

00:18:59.040 people and you know they're they're unfortunately they're a smaller size population wise and their

00:19:06.720 uh economy is like directly head-on linked to the united states right so literally you know 75

00:19:15.600 of their exports 75 of their imports it's almost like this directly from the u.s so how will

00:19:21.440 change that change the calculus change the math do your ammunitions here digital systems right could

00:19:27.520 you do anywhere well that's your university programs with your your kids who don't have jobs right now

00:19:33.440 frankly ontario exactly so there you take your digital systems hub and you take it into waterloo

00:19:39.760 we're building the program so we're doing it right here live on this show right you know and as we do

00:19:46.160 it you know uh sensors space uh specialized manufacturing there's enough people around

00:19:53.200 the table they could probably call it right now and tell you why and you know if you need minerals

00:19:58.400 and resources that are key and critical and you know the core resources that go into the weaponry

00:20:04.320 you have to be close by so therefore you move the factory close by you get it ready those are all

00:20:09.760 things we need to do admiral topsy is the commander of the canadian navy and he's a very astute uh

00:20:16.480 educated senior naval officer who understands what's happening in the world and understands canada's

00:20:23.280 place in it and understand the needs of the canadian navy and the equipment it needs to survive

00:20:29.120 not just it's not enough just to say we're going to send our finest young canadians into some battle

00:20:34.560 they have to survive the battle right they have to have the right equipment to survive the battle

00:20:38.400 and if you talk to the commanders of the army navy and air force and actually ask them what they need

00:20:44.000 what's the two or three most important pieces of kit you need for your soldiers your airmen your

00:20:49.600 sailors they will tell you they know implicitly what is needed and so you don't need a consultant

00:20:55.040 you just need to consult the dozens of officers that reside in national defense headquarters in ottawa

00:21:00.880 they spend years they spend careers mapping out you know everything that is needed to the nut

00:21:07.040 and bolt to the sleeping bag to the rations in the field what these troops and soldiers and sailors

00:21:13.120 and airmen need so you just ask them and then start the ball rolling i mean this is the blueprint of

00:21:20.160 what could be something really special for the canadian military paul and manufacturing and potential

00:21:25.840 the economy when you talk about all the issues with the lack of jobs in the country well these could

00:21:30.560 be potentially a lot of good paying jobs for people coast to coast right no no i agree and and that's

00:21:36.960 the plan i'm like you know and on show after show jimma you know we go through this on a number of fronts

00:21:41.840 yeah we talk about it all the time okay right we're definitely smart enough as a country to do this

00:21:48.320 without question why don't we do it and it's getting down to the you know and we're being out hustled

00:21:54.480 you know when you whether you know we're talking about hockey the other day right you know or whether

00:21:59.040 whatever sport we're talking about you know sometimes uh you get out hustled and you lose

00:22:03.840 the game yes you do the olympics is over the leafs go into tampa yesterday right you know this is a

00:22:10.320 family show don't talk about no no it was ugly but they got out hustled right horrible yeah they got

00:22:15.600 out hustled because you know they weren't ready to play again no they were kind of not on their toes

00:22:20.640 so they got out hustled we're getting out hustled in this in the defense world because we're not on

00:22:27.040 we're not up on our toes and we're not moving and we don't have a plan in place so we quickly

00:22:32.480 have to get a plan in place and then start to execute you know if it's perfect i think at this

00:22:38.480 point it doesn't really matter i think where we're kind of overthinking this as a country

00:22:43.920 and i think as a as a political i think each political party you won't get anyone on any political

00:22:49.440 party will argue against this right now so paul i think it would be political suicide to actually

00:22:54.640 say this is a dumb idea correct and if it's not perfect fine as you're building things as you're

00:23:00.080 making things as you're growing you can adjust and improvise and make some corrections along the way 0.96

00:23:06.320 andrew coin from the global mail wrote a tremendous column a couple weeks ago and said this country has

00:23:11.760 been complacent for so long because we assumed america would always be our friend and assume we would

00:23:17.360 never be in this position and now we're caught with our pants down as a country having to scramble we

00:23:23.120 that's a quick fix we as you said we have the skill the knowledge the brain power and the know-how

00:23:29.120 and the resources to fix this right but you know make the decision start building it and if things

00:23:35.120 aren't working fix it as it goes along so we have the what so when i'm going through this the what is

00:23:42.720 spelled out right so we know we kind of you know the sovereign capabilities we have we know we don't

00:23:49.360 really know who because we haven't got to recruit everyone and we don't know where so we like where

00:23:55.040 we're struggling now is we can do another year of sitting around and trying to do commissions and have

00:24:00.320 uh conversations with the 600 existing the 600 existing private firms are there they're producing

00:24:08.960 for what's going now but a year is ludicrous to me to spend i know what you're saying paul but but this

00:24:14.800 doesn't this isn't a year away so this plan is more than a year away now right but we need to start

00:24:20.640 doing stuff as a country now today but and and you know and it's it's recruiting i think and this is

00:24:27.680 where i'm my observation is okay it's recruiting someone to lead this team the ministers can be the

00:24:35.040 the board oh you mean someone overseeing the these three ministers uh like an overseer to

00:24:40.560 bring everything together yeah you need you need someone to come in who has the experience in doing

00:24:46.640 this to take control of it and drive it out and not and someone and then they need to be given

00:24:53.280 uh the latitude to make mistakes so you need to you need to put that in as a contingency plan that

00:25:00.080 they're going to screw up along the way but you know what you still got the job if we're going to

00:25:04.240 bring if we're going to bring another 300 000 into the service quite frankly there are going to be

00:25:10.480 some things that go wrong so don't be astounded if bad things happen along the way that's too bad

00:25:15.280 it happens i'm sorry but that's life people are people you know they'll be doing over there'll be

00:25:20.000 social issues along the way don't kibosh you know you can't because it is it is a big push if you're

00:25:26.320 if you're fast tracking anything to get it done yeah you have to make allowances for human behavior

00:25:31.040 okay so we put that aside we give them the latitude then we say okay we need to put them the where

00:25:38.240 where in the country is all these are all these things best strategically placed

00:25:44.080 now it could be for votes we've had this discussion before i don't care at this point so

00:25:49.600 you know what if the liberal party uh places this in their areas where their votes their constituents

00:25:56.960 are their voters are i don't care at this point i really don't well the country can't afford to care i

00:26:02.880 don't think the conservatives most conservatives don't care honestly put it wherever you think

00:26:07.280 it's best and if you need to put it somewhere to get political votes put it there right because it's

00:26:12.000 protection of the country now you have it there now you have to go in almost taking a lesson from sweden

00:26:18.560 who you bring up on other shows and you've talked to me about you know when we set up for shows set up a

00:26:26.000 rollout program where you can go build the infrastructure for these people to live

00:26:30.320 shop recreate yeah work out take care of their families educate you know the basic needs of

00:26:37.760 these people set it up so they can go there and they can actually get set up to go so now you set

00:26:42.960 up these people you have them in place you figure out the where now you have to put the money in to get

00:26:47.440 the third-party companies that need to assist them to build the things to get them to be successful

00:26:51.680 like to me it's not a and none of that is here none of that is here so paul i believe i i'm trusting

00:27:01.520 that the senior officers the generals the admirals um the leaders of the canadian military and the

00:27:08.160 department of national offense they know what's needed where it's needed they just are trying to

00:27:13.280 get the government it's been written about and talked about the clerk of the privy council and the red

00:27:19.440 tape and the canadian government and procurement is so slow moving it's like watching a glacier melt

00:27:27.120 and it there has to be a faster way and this is where mark carney has to use his

00:27:34.560 political bully style i mean to run brookfield to run the bank of england to run a hedge fund sometimes

00:27:41.920 he has to be a bit of a bully to get things done so this is where he has to use that management style

00:27:47.680 and push through a lot of that and say i don't care how it was done before this is how we're going

00:27:52.320 to do it now we need to start building this right now and start getting the people and getting the

00:27:57.360 equipment in as soon as possible we don't have years to wait we have months you know a lot of

00:28:02.640 canadians for years just didn't think well who cares if it takes 10 15 20 years it's never got we

00:28:08.000 don't have to worry about it ever yeah but those days are over no no i'm with you and you know in the

00:28:13.120 rollout of this you know he stood up he did his speech on it after davos you know he said here we

00:28:18.160 are here's where we're going okay now that's fine give me some comfort start doing some ground breakings

00:28:26.720 start doing some shovels in the ground start flying don't you know i know we like to go to india and

00:28:33.520 australia and japan and all those places you know thinking that we're going to get these great export

00:28:39.360 projects and everything else this is a project you have in front of you right now

00:28:44.880 go to these key places start that groundbreaking build those houses start those things that's

00:28:50.480 the shovel in the ground that i think canadians want to see right now canadians want to see

00:28:54.960 not a lot of chatter not a lot you know not a lot of action they want to see action in areas and i

00:29:00.320 will say this paul part of mark carney's agenda going to australia the australians can teach carney

00:29:06.160 the canadians a lot about being a not a huge population no but they've done a fabulous job

00:29:13.120 of creating a robust military that's well armed and well equipped with a regular force and and a

00:29:18.800 reserve force and making sure they have the equipment and the facilities to service and repair the

00:29:24.800 equipment on their own shores yeah and maybe just something that's something that'd be a good

00:29:29.680 partnership with canada australia learning from each other because they've done a very very good job

00:29:34.640 australia oh they have well and if if we're struggling to do that maybe it's just taking

00:29:39.920 a page out of their plan if they're willing to but where i kind of this is where i struggle jim

00:29:46.560 i have to believe i've seen canadians do great things before i've seen them do magnificent projects

00:29:52.080 like you know having lived here most of my life i don't know why this is such a struggle for us i don't

00:29:57.920 know why this has become such a uh you know people just don't have confidence in it they don't believe

00:30:04.800 it's going to happen and if they believe it's going to happen they believe it's going to go sideways in

00:30:09.040 the middle so it won't be fair procurement they believe it's not going to go well but there's so

00:30:13.600 no evidence to tell you otherwise i know but but again that i come back to you know this is the pr that

00:30:20.960 you have to do to get a project in place you know right um you know i did i did a when i was in my

00:30:27.520 late 20s i did a project it was uh 500 million dollars it was a build it was a size project yeah

00:30:33.520 and you know it kept me up night and day i was stressed about it but you know my team that i had

00:30:38.800 on the ground every day i'd go in and i'd start the meeting is we're on we're on time and we're on budget

00:30:44.800 what more do you need to know until they all started to say the same thing and then i went

00:30:50.720 forward right it's right it's being that leader that takes them forward and says okay here's the

00:30:55.520 plan here's the map here's where we are here's where we're going and here's where we at the end

00:30:59.360 of the year and how we get there right we're going to have some bumps but we're going to figure it out

00:31:04.240 um you know this is the timeline now but we're going to get there when we get and that goes back to

00:31:08.720 your theory of a of someone an individual overseeing all of this with thick skin and experience

00:31:15.360 who can get the message through and handle all the slings and arrows they're going to receive

00:31:20.160 along the way and just keep pushing forward and getting things done you know in in construction we

00:31:24.880 call this a finisher right right so we cut in construction we bring in these guys and they've been

00:31:30.240 in construction for 40 years they're rough as hell and they can take anything and they can take

00:31:34.240 anything like leather skin right and they come in and they go through walls yeah and they finish 0.99

00:31:39.600 your building because you know uh at the end of a project especially a bigger project like

00:31:44.480 the one i mentioned you you're trying to hire the full team to get in the building operationally

00:31:50.480 and the construction crew is slowing down because they can bill you for extras so you have this

00:31:55.840 push and pull that's going on right projects going dynamic between different groups this is what

00:32:01.920 you need you need that older gentleman or lady thick skinned can come in toughest nails pull this 1.00

00:32:09.680 together only needs to be there for three years yeah they're at the end of their career they're not

00:32:15.600 regardless how this goes it doesn't really matter to them right you give them the mandate they move

00:32:20.720 it forward and at the end of the day they succeed then they get their paycheck and then they go on then

00:32:25.680 they go on and that's what we need on this right now absolutely and because the problem is and they're not

00:32:30.640 knocking ministers and politicians they want to get re-elected they want to get re-elected they're

00:32:36.240 not going to step out to do anything on it you know that could go sideways because quite frankly

00:32:40.960 they're worried that that ends their career so the best thing for them to do is get allocated the 0.80

00:32:46.400 position find a consultant they can pass it off to to cover their arse yep right that's true and then

00:32:53.040 wait for that to commission and then the consultant will actually then go get someone to hire they're 0.62

00:32:57.440 going to find this person or similar person three years down the road but you're going to given up

00:33:02.640 three years to get there and that's what they're doing now right and but this is where we'd ideally

00:33:07.440 you'd have that person in place by the fall of the latest of this calendar year yes in getting

00:33:14.000 factories and shipyards and things going why wasn't he beside his side when he announced it see that's

00:33:20.880 where i'm kind of right that's a great question and then the funny thing i mean i've been on this a lot

00:33:25.440 and i'm gonna i'm starting it more and more in the shows right why is the opposition not saying that

00:33:31.760 again why if i'm if i'm sitting in the in the conservatives chair i'd be like hey if you said

00:33:39.120 it's dangerous you say my family's in danger so that's your it's your premise you've allocated the

00:33:44.880 monies i've passed your budget all right so would pierre pauliev and the conservatives be better serving

00:33:51.840 the country bringing that up we're talking about immigration again utah i mean to me it's a no

00:33:57.680 brainer yeah well enough of the immigration let's focus on things that are vitally important right

00:34:04.560 now do i think immigration could be better yes but but that's not even his issue he's jumping on

00:34:11.280 daniel smith's bandwagon right all he's doing is she did a decent job of bringing this she's the only

00:34:16.720 premier who had the guts to bring it up and say it right you know that's been that it's been the

00:34:20.880 elephant in the room that everyone's kind of been thinking she's the one who just said hey i was your

00:34:26.960 most profitable province i'm now losing money but by the way the only one who was contributing transfer

00:34:32.720 payments to canada is gone but okay but if pierre pauliev is supposed to be pierre pauliev 2.0 this

00:34:39.280 great leader that they make him out to be yeah then he's going to say be a leader come up with concrete

00:34:45.200 ideas and say we this is someone i'm going to put these names forward i think they would be good for

00:34:51.440 this position yeah wouldn't that better serve the country they used to call them red tories 0.75

00:34:57.760 right they used to put red tories in high profile projects because they had the experience and they

00:35:02.000 used to pop them over they used to run some magnificent con and they were usually guys and

00:35:07.040 gals at the end of their career and could work both sides of the aisle yeah and smooth it over make 1.00

00:35:11.680 sure everyone was happy i think this is time like absolutely and i don't know where that went maybe

00:35:16.560 that's a lost generation of things maybe that maybe floor crossings are all our our basic maybe we spend

00:35:22.160 all our time trying to convince everyone to cross each way right and do violations right but let's let's

00:35:28.560 try to convince someone with some experience to run major projects i mean i think of other than announce

00:35:33.600 them the talented um business legal minds construction minds uh mediators in this country

00:35:40.480 from coast to coast yeah you you know there's someone out there in this country that would fit

00:35:45.600 that bill that would be perfect for this portfolio yeah there could be two or three absolutely right

00:35:51.120 one for the east coast one for the west coast well you're going to need someone who can build it

00:35:55.200 yeah someone who can procure it you're going to need someone who can operationally run it someone

00:35:59.760 who could sell it sell it well that's what you're missing right yeah you're missing this is the same

00:36:04.160 thing as our hockey remember our hockey show when we're saying you know we have all these gold medalists

00:36:08.000 but we don't do anything with them so when i watch do you watch the state of the union i watched bits

00:36:13.920 of it yeah did you see the generals sitting in front of them oh well yeah although admirals and generals

00:36:18.800 yeah yeah do you see that yeah they come there they look good they sit there with their uniforms on

00:36:24.880 right yeah it's the direction of the country like it or not whether you like trump or not

00:36:29.200 right he's their commander in chief the public tunes in and they see they see the supreme court and they

00:36:35.200 see right the military sitting in front of the president right that at the direction of the 0.72

00:36:40.880 president they are sitting there and quite frankly they get comfort that they have security and safety in

00:36:47.840 the country right and that is all for that's not done that is done for impact right well i'm going to

00:36:54.240 throw a name out yeah for you okay jean christian oh yeah love it jean christian is the face of this

00:37:02.400 group of people to get it done cbc ctv french and english newspapers he could handle anything he's got

00:37:10.400 the thickest skin of any politician this country's ever produced and he's the one to kind of speak to

00:37:16.240 everyone he's highly respected look at the speech recently with stephen harper i mean if you want to pick

00:37:22.240 someone i think all sides would agree would be kind of good to oversee this to push it forward and get

00:37:26.960 things done it'd be jean courtin it's a great way to end your career i'm sure you're sure he'd love it

00:37:32.800 you know he definitely knows all aspects of it he knows yeah intimately the the country the good and

00:37:38.560 bad of pitfalls of this country coast to coast yeah what a patriot protecting your country and your

00:37:43.600 final mission absolutely yeah it's a great story i mean and then he would go and do talk shows do

00:37:50.320 interviews and then have people delegated to do more of the hands-on dirty work perfect guy to oversee 0.88

00:37:56.320 this yeah and you also succession planet so quite frankly as he disappears in year two or three then

00:38:02.080 we have the next person to take over exactly to run it to success and that's again you know assigning

00:38:10.000 ministers that are just trying to get voted for every election is the wrong move here and quite frankly

00:38:14.880 you know god bless them trying to do their best but they have so many other issues to deal with and

00:38:21.920 that's why i see this you know it's it's it's an interesting announcement it's an interesting paper

00:38:28.560 and it's unprecedented the amount of money that canadian government's about to spend i mean

00:38:33.520 this has not happened since world war ii that they spent this much money in this short of a period of time

00:38:39.520 so i think for a lot of canadians they have to be sold this there has to be a pr job there has to be

00:38:45.440 a face of the project out there letting them know that this is a good thing for the country now and

00:38:50.560 for the future right so think about just so and this is what you're up against a little bit so and

00:38:55.440 you know it's if you think about any large infrastructure that you've seen lately oh well

00:39:00.720 the eglinton lrt right 15 years of construction at every party and dinner party and every event you go to

00:39:07.840 right now everyone laughs about it so we're we we have and this is what you're up against a little

00:39:12.480 bit from large projects in canada right now you're you're up against the uh negative connotation that

00:39:19.120 canadians cannot succeed in large projects we we built this self-fulfilling prophecy by watching

00:39:24.480 ourselves fail on big infrastructure projects over the last 10 years yes right now you have to you have

00:39:31.520 to jump over that you know the nation is depending on it that's why you got to figure this out and i

00:39:37.040 you know it's one thing to make an announcement it's another thing to throw some ministers at it

00:39:41.520 i think you got to go further yeah and a guy like jean chretien but um i mean famous for the

00:39:47.280 shawinigan handshake he takes no nonsense off anyone and he'll have no trouble calling out politicians

00:39:53.920 on any party if he thinks they're out of line or any ceo or any four person on a job site they know

00:40:01.360 this is not good enough we need to get this done yeah he can get things done and you'd get comfort

00:40:06.320 with with him sitting with all the military in front of him yeah at a table watching him direct

00:40:11.600 with a chart on that gave the timelines for all these things then canada would be like oh planes

00:40:17.520 will be ready here boats here this year you know and he goes to the shore and he has the flyby overhead

00:40:23.520 he has the the boats being launched with the champagne cracking on the side you know now we're talking

00:40:30.320 right because you're seeing as a canadian tangible results to the money and the effort and when's the

00:40:35.360 last time you saw that well it's been a while it's been a while it's been a while and so and

00:40:40.800 and it's a canadian i think now with everything going on with trump in the u.s in the world in

00:40:45.520 general we could use some of that from our own morale yeah our own psyche it is well you know that's

00:40:52.480 you know whether it's the olympics or whether it's the state of the union or whatever it is the reason

00:40:59.120 you do those things is to collectively bring a nation together to get behind what you're doing and we

00:41:03.600 we have canada about to play soccer games in the world cup in june and for canada's the men's team

00:41:09.760 has never won a game of the world cup of soccer yeah if they win a game just win a game alfonso

00:41:14.800 davies and team canada i'm pleased that he's healthy for the games that's big for the whole nation i know

00:41:20.960 but shouldn't we be kind of pumping them up on a pedestal now well they're trying they're trying

00:41:26.240 they have some tune-up games at the end of march at bimo field in toronto and then from april on it's

00:41:31.520 going to be non-stop yeah from april on it's going to be non-stop building up to the games in june

00:41:36.320 i hope so those are the things we need but yeah but when it comes to these men and ladies of the

00:41:41.200 military those are the things because quite frankly the more we talk about this if you want to get great

00:41:46.960 recruitment and you want to get people to commit to something create a program i'm on time and i'm

00:41:51.920 on budget you know it's funny how people will buy into a funny slogan you know they bought into elbows up

00:41:57.760 they still do they still do right it's it's interesting you'd think given that that worked

00:42:04.160 that they would be figuring out a way to buy into this right whether it's whether it's creating it

00:42:08.720 you know i know they did a new military uniform i know they did a bunch of stuff recently i know

00:42:13.120 they're trying to address housing and recruitment which has been a mess i get that but it's now trying

00:42:18.480 to figure out to put a face on it so when people look at it from the outside they're like oh i know

00:42:23.200 they've tried to do that with their social media and do different kind of that the videos are very

00:42:28.480 well done and well produced and sometimes it's just music over visuals of the military doing different

00:42:36.720 things search and rescue out in the field flying planes um parachuting really cool kind of stuff

00:42:43.440 and i think obviously they're appealing to a certain age group of young canadians young men and women

00:42:48.240 who are interested in doing that thing and that's something they could be better at and do

00:42:53.040 more of because i i mean let's face it the people they're going to be recruiting and going to boot

00:42:57.680 camp and doing these jobs will tend to be people to spend a lot of time on the internet and on their

00:43:01.680 phone yeah well you know and credit to them it is starting to work actually i went to another

00:43:07.760 business uh recently and one of the ladies there who i've known for years i was talking to her on

00:43:13.360 the way out and she said you know my son joined fantastic yeah recruitment's up 13 i'm like good for

00:43:18.800 you good for you and she says you know he was a kid you know who came out of high school kicked

00:43:24.160 around to college never did very well had two or three jobs i said hey you know what he's going

00:43:28.960 to get disciplined yeah yeah and 52 grand a year is a private yeah exactly suck no no and not a lot of

00:43:37.440 living expenses no and so you're going to bank he's going to bank money and he's going to experience

00:43:42.480 things he wouldn't in another walk of life yep and if he's there three years five years however

00:43:48.560 along he's there he'll be better for it yeah no i'm with you i think jim coming out of this again i

00:43:55.840 like the plan i need the details so yeah if i had any recommendation for them and the defense strategy

00:44:02.800 right now yeah you know you you need it you need a key leader in this right now you need to put a

00:44:09.440 figurehead and you need someone to break it down to who what why where how you need to figure out

00:44:14.240 a way to get the confidence of the people and now personally i feel the first big ball to drop will

00:44:19.520 be the submarine announcement i hope so and and that should come we're almost we're at the end of

00:44:24.640 february so i believe that should come march at the latest early april to say hey canada here we go

00:44:30.880 this is an example of the plan at work i hope so i hope so but i'd like to see a layered plan now i

00:44:36.720 just don't want to see like i want to see how you show me how this 88 billion dollars is going

00:44:41.680 to roll out where it's going to roll out you do that listen i'm the first one on board i it's it's

00:44:48.000 a it's a huge game changer it's a huge paradigm shift for the canadian government and the canadian

00:44:53.120 military and it's going to be fascinating as the recruitment is going up and up and up and the

00:44:58.160 equipment's being built how it changes and you know the interesting part of it if it's me and i'm

00:45:02.160 sitting in their shoes right now guess when i do it when i do it right before july 1st canada day

00:45:10.320 of course i do it before the candidate the kuzma discussions i do it right there here's

00:45:15.520 jean chretien here's the announcement bang bang bang yep i roll out all the pomp and circumstances

00:45:21.360 leading into canada today fly by over here's the hill here's the plan here's where we're going

00:45:26.560 i have it all tight i have it all tight and ready to go i'm wow i'm and i don't do it in one place

00:45:32.160 i don't do it in ottawa i do it in each of the places that i'm strategically going to do each of

00:45:37.200 these things but montreal halifax vancouver all the cities i show them has that how they unite as

00:45:43.040 canadians and how their common bond in defense of canada is not just in one province or one place

00:45:48.720 it's across the nation and that's how i do it oh brilliant and of course and then the north

00:45:54.000 because they're going to talk about expanding surveillance and a military presence in the far

00:45:58.880 north as well that'd be that'd be fantastic yeah people would love it people and people would buy

00:46:04.320 into it absolutely and social media and the press will go with it so yeah we have a plan we just got

00:46:09.760 to execute it he's paul i'm jim thanks for watching

True Patriot Love - March 02, 2026

Canada’s $88B Defense Build-Up： Are We Actually Ready？

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