True Patriot Love - October 16, 2025


The Real Dark Arts? Canada’s Defense Budget EXPOSED


Episode Stats


Length

36 minutes

Words per minute

177.30246

Word count

6,507

Sentence count

25


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

What we spend as a country, what we spend it on, how it's allocated, and what actually is spent is one of the great mysteries in the history of this country. On this episode of the show, we're joined by the Minister of National Defense, Paul Tkachuk, to talk about how much does Canada spend on National Defense?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 of course anyone who's a fan of harry potter would know the term the dark arts now when it
00:00:22.320 comes to money in the budget in canada and national defense that is the real dark arts
00:00:28.720 what we spend as a country what we spend it on how it's allocated and what actually is spent
00:00:34.000 is one of the great mysteries in the history of this country especially when it comes to politics
00:00:38.720 paul is always thrilled to be joining have you join me to talk about this because you're a numbers
00:00:43.600 guy if anyone can help break down some of these numbers you're the man yeah you know and i've i've
00:00:48.400 been studying it for the last few days jim it's very confusing it's hard to follow and the the
00:00:54.320 playbook uh since 2023 has gone from cut cut cut now to spend spend spend so you know what uh on the
00:01:04.560 show i took a look at uh all of government expenses and what we spend as a government from a federal
00:01:10.400 perspective and we spend roughly 500 billion dollars a year right so on our spending for our government
00:01:18.720 so that all the gum and oranges direct indirect transfers to other levels of government um so
00:01:25.280 in 2024 fiscal 24 we spent 34.5 billion on defense that's correct yeah and we spent uh that's roughly
00:01:36.480 6.7 percent of uh the majority of government's uh spending correct um so you know you got departments
00:01:45.760 so i took a look at it and this was very interesting because you know there's a mandate now to find
00:01:51.040 money within government you know they said we got to find some money and we got to put that money into
00:01:56.800 programs such as defense um so you know uh if you look at where and i took a look at the 10 departments
00:02:04.480 of government that account for 73 percent of federal spending in 2000 fiscal 2024 so finance canada made up about
00:02:14.400 26 percent uh employment and social development canada 18 percent indigenous services and crown
00:02:22.160 indigenous relations made of 12 percent national defense made up 6.7 percent which i was shocked how
00:02:30.240 small that was uh global affairs three percent uh cra three percent housing infrastructure and communities
00:02:38.560 two percent two point eight percent uh public safety 2.7 health canada 2.67 and innovation science and
00:02:48.000 industry two percent so that makes up 73 percent so you know what uh here we are uh uh trying to figure
00:02:56.640 out how to increase this budget but we're only spending six point seven one percent of our national budget
00:03:03.840 so then i you know they said okay i want to break this down because where does that uh 34 billion
00:03:09.600 dollars go well right now 16.2 billion of it goes to personnel of course yeah people of course but you
00:03:18.640 know we're we're a very small you know it relatively small uh military we are yes you know and then we
00:03:27.440 we have a lot of outside consultants we have uh 2.6 billion in professional and special services
00:03:36.320 um we only have which i was shocked we only spend 5 billion in 2024 on acquisition of machinery and
00:03:45.280 equipment well in the first very simple reason because nothing gets done quickly so if you are the
00:03:52.400 minister of national defense paul and it's september and you need something by october that's almost an
00:03:59.600 impossibility in the current structure the way the government no matter who's in power for someone in
00:04:05.440 need to buy something and have it in place a month later it takes years for it actually to get to the
00:04:11.680 base or the unit or the ship that they needed well this is interesting because then we spend 2 billion on
00:04:18.080 repair and maintenance of our 2 billion dollars to repair the equipment we have in our defense because
00:04:24.320 it's so old they've waited they've waited so long to replace stuff that a big chunk of the budget is
00:04:30.160 used to service it just to keep it viable yeah 1.26 billion on utilities materials and supplies uh 1.1
00:04:38.560 billion in transfer payments which i i don't really know what that is uh 1 billion and other subsidies uh
00:04:46.240 and payments one billion in transportation and communication uh 700 million in acquisition of
00:04:55.600 lands building and works seven this is a 700 million in rentals yes so again because we have an old fleet
00:05:04.480 i assume we're it's that and it's also um for people for living you don't forget that if you're sent
00:05:11.520 overseas yeah to london england for six months they have to rent you a place to live while you're on
00:05:16.160 assignment yeah yeah and then uh you know we pick up in the military about uh 65 million dollars of
00:05:27.440 debt charges so we get allocated though yeah that's our that's the the national defense's share of of
00:05:34.560 our and here's as a numbers person here's where it gets tricky the the carny liberal government will
00:05:41.760 table of budget this fall yeah depending on what financial expert you speak to in canada it could
00:05:48.080 be anywhere from 60 billion to over 80 billion deficit now at the same time we're trying to
00:05:54.480 say spend more national defense to keep donald trump at arm's length to increase our do our share for nato
00:06:02.320 at the same time the government's hinting at austerity and cuts across the board and all levels of
00:06:07.920 government are being told to cut cut cut because the budget deficit is way beyond anything anything
00:06:15.680 everyone ever envisioned well we're gonna we're gonna the interesting part of this is we're gonna be
00:06:20.480 getting uh the 2025 annual report which i assume we blew through our budgeted number uh that i think we
00:06:30.960 pretty much all know that well i don't think even the most pro-liberal pro mark carney person could
00:06:36.160 dispute that no so we we basically blew through that number and because we had the election we
00:06:40.560 had all the issues with with uh uh tariffs and trump and everything else so we blew through that and
00:06:46.240 then quite frankly we got to put we got to table that budget uh which he said he's held off to see
00:06:52.400 you know what's going on but he can't hold off any longer no so we have kind of the two of them
00:06:56.560 coming at the same time so around halloween we'll probably get the annual report and then closely
00:07:02.000 after we'll get the budget right so so now you know he's got to increase this number he said he's
00:07:07.360 going to increase this number that's the commitment he made at nato but so then i said okay great where
00:07:12.480 are we at so i went broke down the numbers and i said okay i want to understand the program some more
00:07:17.520 so i started off in fiscal 2000 uh 23 20 yeah 23 and then i went to fiscal 24 and kind of to today
00:07:28.480 and i said okay so it was really interesting because i go to 23 and i pull up a defense spending
00:07:35.200 uh statement on the budget which is really interesting and i was i started reading it through
00:07:40.000 and i'm thinking okay so these are all spending reductions so in fiscal 23 we turned uh you know
00:07:49.680 we were going the exact opposite direction so the initiatives were cut travel um reduce operating
00:07:56.960 expenses by 354 million dollars which you just told me you want to take the group with operating
00:08:03.280 expenses well a lot of that is also don't forget in the military to properly train you have to use
00:08:09.280 live ammunition missiles torpedoes bombs uh artillery shells to train the troops and the sailors and the
00:08:16.720 airmen in case of war and that costs money those missiles they're very expensive they cost millions of
00:08:23.520 dollars and the thought was reduce it to the absolute minimum and spend the absolute minimum
00:08:28.560 on live ammunition and and everything else to reduce cost right no no i i get you and then there's
00:08:36.640 these interesting so savings measures four and five were to cut projects so this was interesting this is
00:08:43.520 money that hasn't been spent that sits in a kitty so a lot of uh reserves are set up in the military
00:08:49.600 to use for future projects so they were just cutting the reserves out so they were they were basically
00:08:54.000 saying okay we're going to decrease that um and lapse funding so basically anything you know that had
00:09:00.080 been forecasted so there was a huge movement and that was roughly when i looked at it that accounted for
00:09:08.640 half a billion dollars of just lapse projects that never got off the ground so stuff that they thought
00:09:14.720 about they put some money aside and then they said not going to do it um and then they created a
00:09:21.120 flexible uh fund which really was never allocated uh from what i can tell any money which was just hey
00:09:29.920 there's a there's a slush fund sitting somewhere in government if you need it for flexible programs
00:09:34.640 capital uh any new projects that come up well we'll allocate some money to it so it's a kind of a
00:09:40.640 uh maybe um a hot maybe and then my my favorite of this was if pressed on specific nato contribution
00:09:50.240 so this is this is one so if i go to a meeting and they press me yes right uh you know we will uh
00:09:58.960 contribute to peace and security in europe um we'll make contra contributions uh to continue to make nato
00:10:08.640 missions uh we are supporting our allies by investing in modern capability so that's kind of a
00:10:15.280 general statement and then they talk about the 88 f-35 fighter jets correct this is one that you
00:10:22.880 keep telling me about which isn't 88 anymore well that's possibly not going to be 88 because of
00:10:27.280 donald trump now before donald trump it probably was a a lock that it would be 88 but now the pressure's
00:10:33.120 on the government why are we buying equipment from america when they want to turn us to the 51st state
00:10:38.800 when we could go to european countries and buy similar capable jets that wouldn't have ties
00:10:44.480 to donald trump in america right okay so and then 16 poseidon patrol uh aircraft yes nine multi-role
00:10:54.000 tankers and transport aircraft and 11 mq9b remotely pilot piloted aircraft yes so that was on their plan
00:11:03.360 so they just they had that in here and of course as we're learning a lot of these actually happen over
00:11:10.880 2010 these are all over long time frames right we never yes we never get anything built it seems like
00:11:16.640 in an annual basis we get everything over the tanker i will give the government credit they've actually
00:11:23.840 through new builds and they took a slightly used version of an airbus jet the same style for the tanker
00:11:32.000 and have converted it so now they have what would be our version of canada one as opposed to air
00:11:38.720 force one for the prime minister and dignitaries and media to fly around the world and the rest
00:11:44.400 are called multi-role tankers they're modern airbus jets that could they have a boom and drogue the boom
00:11:51.440 is the big stick that goes into an airplane and the drogue is the basket so they have two different
00:11:56.880 ways to refuel aircraft and they have longer range and more fuel capability so they are the ultimate
00:12:03.200 support weapon where they could refuel tankers uh humanitarian aid ships bombers fighters and whatnot
00:12:09.680 so they're getting that on board they are in the process of building the poseidon sub hunting planes to
00:12:16.000 replace stuff that will be almost 50 years old by the time they're at the end of their service and
00:12:20.800 unfortunately drones are the future of warfare so they're finally getting into the act and buying
00:12:26.080 proper drones for the military well so the you know they in they're acquiring i guess they acquired
00:12:31.920 them already anti-aircraft anti-drone systems as well as anti-tank weapons to reinforce our troops in
00:12:40.080 latvia correct so that was bought and sent right to our nato brigade in latvia okay so that's part of
00:12:47.840 our commitment to nato and we we own it i guess so when yes when that's over it'll that that's
00:12:53.040 it'll come back somewhere to canada yes it's canadian national defense property yep okay but
00:12:58.560 they're they need it most right now because they're in the most dire threat if anything turns sour with
00:13:03.360 putin and russia and they decide to go to the baltic states they're going to need every bit of kit they
00:13:07.920 have right and we have he was just over there and we have how many troops and it's a lot it's close to
00:13:13.760 2000 2000 so we have 2000 sort of manning that drone and that capability which is probably from
00:13:20.400 what i can tell from your and my conversations uh the most high-tech hardware software we have
00:13:28.800 yes the most cutting edge stuff has been bought and sent to latvia for the troops there because
00:13:34.000 unfortunately with 2 000 troops our contingent could potentially be overwhelmed in short order without
00:13:41.520 that kind of equipment it's to fight a modern war right okay yeah no i get it so that was kind of
00:13:48.000 where we were in 23 when joe biden was president and everyone thought that kamala harris would replace
00:13:54.080 them right so we weren't as worried i guess so then we weren't as worried about the world and
00:13:59.280 security and the arctic and no submarines and nuclear submarines and there was no talk of 51st state right
00:14:06.320 there was no worry about really our sovereignty we're just just going through life in canada like
00:14:12.880 everything's fine and we can cut here and here and no one's going to complain because no one really pays
00:14:17.040 attention to it no no yeah no until you know we were we've talked about this many times until the trump
00:14:23.840 sort of statements you know him sitting there with the big pen in the oval office you know and doing
00:14:29.440 those press conferences where he talks starts to talk about us and our military and our fentanyl
00:14:35.440 problems and all the challenges we have no one even honestly and you know when i was i i would
00:14:41.680 i'm guilty guilty as charged on that one i i've uh until i dug into budgets i really hadn't spent any
00:14:48.400 time really even looking at defense spending in canada because i really didn't think it existed
00:14:54.000 let's be brutally honest no matter who the leader is no matter what party their affiliation since
00:14:59.840 1969 when pierre trudeau was prime minister until modern times all prime ministers have talked a
00:15:06.800 good game now they've some have varying success degrees of success than others about doing their
00:15:12.160 part for the military but it's never been a top priority no we're peacekeepers we've had a few
00:15:19.040 bouts of combat whether it's um in the former yugoslavia whether it's in the gulf war whether it's
00:15:25.600 afghanistan but for the most part there's no battles in canadian soil and the first thing that
00:15:30.880 gets cut in a budget is the canadian military when they say they're going to buy 12 ships and 30
00:15:37.040 aircraft and 100 tanks they'll just cut that number because originally they'll have told someone that
00:15:43.200 they're going to buy this and that's the shell game they play to tell nato how they keep their
00:15:46.960 contingent and then we looked at the budget we decided we're going to buy six instead of 12
00:15:51.360 or 30 instead of 100 because we don't have the money and people just shrug their shoulders because
00:15:56.400 we have so many other priorities budget-wise in this country social services infrastructure health
00:16:02.800 care servicing the debt the economy that the military is always taking a back seat the commanders
00:16:09.360 the generals the leaders of the military have begged the government all levels of government for the
00:16:14.960 last 50 years for a certain piece of equipment and they're always told yeah yeah yeah we'll get to it and
00:16:20.320 they almost never get it almost never get it right no no i i get you and so then you know we take a
00:16:26.560 look at it in the u.s budget we've talked about this is closer to one trillion i think it's 970 billion
00:16:33.040 or something it's a crazy number right so then he steps up to the table and he says oh hold on now
00:16:39.200 we're spending all this money right we're protecting you so now you know you have to step up to the table
00:16:44.560 so all of a sudden you know uh ignored for the most part uh and we say okay yep we're we'll be at the
00:16:52.560 table so now then i you know that's when i get kind of you can see this probably um percolating uh
00:17:00.320 you know through 24 24 you can see the conversation kind of bubbling especially when trump got elected
00:17:05.520 yeah when trump got elected but it is kind of bubbling because then you know strong and free right
00:17:10.240 and the renewed vision so now we have a new so all of a sudden to pop up this document a renewed vision
00:17:15.680 um and we start talking about uh a bunch of stuff so we but we start increasing now so we kind of
00:17:24.480 switch and we go to a different so we're going to support our people strengthen our foundations
00:17:30.080 build an innovative industrial base defend canada defend north america and defend global interests so
00:17:36.800 we decided to spend now this is interesting so then we say okay we're going to spend 295 million over
00:17:42.960 20 years a billion uh no this is 295 million over 20 years to build new housing oh new housing for
00:17:51.040 existing members and i gotta i grew up in the military housing believe me they were it was not good place
00:17:56.400 to grow up in no so they need new housing for the families because that's what i grew up in paul but
00:18:01.520 i'm wondering so this is the interesting thing when i'm reading it because i do do a little bit of
00:18:05.360 development on my own right so i'm wondering why why it took 20 years what who put the forecast in
00:18:12.720 for 20 years i don't know that just seems a little ridiculous to me right uh half a half a billion
00:18:18.720 dollars over 20 years to accelerate development of an electronic health record platform to improve
00:18:25.440 to improve the continuity of care so we're gonna spend so we're gonna hold on jim because this is
00:18:34.880 an interesting one to me we're gonna we're gonna spend 295 million on places for them to live but
00:18:39.840 we're gonna spend half a billion on a electronic health record platform i like paul the key thing
00:18:47.440 there for both of them is the 20-year timeline yeah what is the odds that anyone elected now is still
00:18:53.760 in power no prime minister has been in power for 20 years in the history of canada so you can make all
00:19:00.640 the promises you want today tomorrow the next day and say in 20 years there is no one that it's
00:19:07.200 obligated when they take power after you to do that but here's one for you you know if i want more
00:19:12.320 people to join the military why don't i build more housing because you know you you know and i'm not
00:19:18.640 i'll get on my soapbox for a minute then i'll get off i'm sorry but no you know affordable housing is
00:19:23.040 driving me a little crazy right now so i know everyone wants to talk about affordable affordable
00:19:28.000 housing is the new buzzword right of course so buzzword every time and you know squirrel affordable
00:19:34.000 housing right so we always want to say affordable housing but you know here's the nice part i think for
00:19:40.640 this crew and for the military let's build some nice houses and i'm not what i mean nice good
00:19:45.600 livable no properly insulated they can have families or kids can have their kids can have good schools
00:19:51.200 they can have good parks they can have uh you know arenas let's build some really nice things for these
00:19:56.640 people to live in because they are making a commitment for the country absolutely they're making
00:20:00.800 a huge commitment right so if we want more of them to do it let's do that you know and again we can
00:20:06.960 track their health care record platform as long as we want um i'd rather give them a nice place to
00:20:12.880 live i think most members of the military would agree with you yeah okay good child care 100 million
00:20:18.320 dollars over five years for child care uh you know i'm all for that yeah we can't argue with that
00:20:26.080 they're young people they need to come in um now it's interesting as we look through this so now
00:20:31.600 we're going to strengthen our foundation right so we're going to spend oh 10.2 billion over 20 years
00:20:39.680 and current new infrastructure to support the required tempo training and operations and day-to-day
00:20:45.200 military activities so uh which i think is great to tell you the truth um and then these investments
00:20:52.320 will range from asset maintenance and repair of other improvements to military facilities such as piers and
00:20:57.920 runways correct so this is a great project this is i but again 20 years i think is a ridiculous
00:21:05.040 time frame it's a great out though because you give yourself an out everything you put down on that
00:21:10.080 paper is a 20-year timeline i'm with you but you know what and we're going to talk about in a minute but
00:21:17.120 the need is now exactly we're not you know we if if that is a real conversation which i believe it is
00:21:24.720 between the us and canada then you know we need to to get hopping and move a little faster and
00:21:31.760 you know someone needs to take a pen and sort of cross out some of these timelines and get to a more
00:21:37.040 reasonable timeline then 1.2 billion over uh 20 years to increase the number of civilian specialists
00:21:45.360 uh to improve the purchase of new equipment and train new soldiers so this these are outside contractors
00:21:52.720 yes and that that is a common thing in all militaries yeah that makes sense to me you know
00:21:57.200 it needs to be overseen but it it does make sense so then uh building an uh innovative defense industrial
00:22:04.320 base so we're going to maintain military equipment so this is 9 billion over 20 years to sustain military
00:22:12.560 equipment so basically kind of sustain what we have exactly so we're going to spend 9 billion over 20
00:22:18.800 years to sustain and any of the new stuff that does come on stream come on board needs to be maintained
00:22:24.640 as well constantly right i got it so that makes sense i you know i wish that it wasn't so old and
00:22:29.680 i wish we went ahead and let it get but we are where we are we can't go back you know we can't we you
00:22:34.800 know we kind of messed that up and now we're paying the price right 9.5 billion over 20 years to
00:22:41.200 accelerate the establishment of new artillery ammunition production capacity in canada and invest in
00:22:46.880 strategic supply of ammunition so this is well this is because canada and all the other countries
00:22:52.480 that sent all their ammunition to ukraine need to replace it now and this it's two things it's
00:22:58.320 replacing what you sent to ukraine and it's not relying on america that if you do need ammunition
00:23:03.200 that they're making it right here in canada so this is to make it at home make it at home with
00:23:07.200 the canadian factories i love it 9.5 billion i love that right so it makes sense correct it does make
00:23:13.520 sense you know and and but you know that was something in 23 we were going the opposite
00:23:18.080 exactly in 24 we're now going so i get it so but you know these sound like funny thing is when i look
00:23:26.080 at it sounds like large numbers but the problem is when you kind of amortize it over 20 years you
00:23:32.640 know listen 9.5 billion over 20 years 9.5 billion sounds like a lot but when we add it all up again
00:23:40.000 we're well short of any significant funding commitment right so we're not even you know
00:23:44.720 we might get to the two percent if we add in the coast guard we were talking about that earlier which
00:23:49.440 they have right and then if we we give more money to nato because right now we have kind of a catch-all
00:23:56.320 we kind of have a catch-all you know which i'm going to get to in a minute but um and then quite
00:24:01.520 frankly defending canada so 1.4 billion over 20 years so for maritime sensors to conduct ocean
00:24:09.520 surveillance correct which that's how they find submarines right i'm wondering why 20 years that
00:24:15.200 makes not not really a lot of sense to me i'll be true so that one seems kind of wacky and satellite
00:24:20.080 ground stations uh 222 million uh again i'm learning you know included in this is also tactical
00:24:28.080 helicopters which is 8.4 billion over 20 years but you know you kind of schooled me the other day
00:24:33.520 on the other podcast on how long submarines take right so i was like you know and i was i was fighting
00:24:39.360 with you at the beginning and then i think i just gave in out of frustration at the end i'm like jim
00:24:43.440 i you know i you know building anything over 10 years to me seems bizarre it is i mean a lot of the
00:24:50.720 the the question is the air force and the military commanders they have been begging for new tactical
00:24:57.600 helicopters of course 20 years and they keep being told no you'll make do with what you have it's fine
00:25:05.040 and now because trump's in there screaming about the 51st state and you have to do your part they're
00:25:10.560 throwing all these numbers out there to quote unquote meet your two percent but they still don't
00:25:15.600 have they don't even have a short list of potential new tactical helicopters that i know of they don't
00:25:21.600 even have any contract sign so until they do that they still have to make them and deliver them to the
00:25:26.560 armed forces oh wow and then uh so again northern operational support hubs makes sense yes so that's
00:25:34.160 long overdue and that's 218 million over 20 years so not a lot you know it's a lot but a small amount
00:25:41.600 compared 2.8 billion for canada's intelligence and cyber operations that's crucial right now right
00:25:49.920 again i don't know why that would take 20 years to they need it like right now yeah i don't know why
00:25:54.400 that's a 20 there's some things a lot of things on this list then in 24 that were kind of surprising
00:26:00.800 and then again uh here's our uh renew and expand our submarine fleet um but no number and then all
00:26:09.200 all-terrain vehicles uh are here and then we get to then defend north america so then there's a bunch
00:26:16.960 of stuff in depend defend north america which is airborne early warning aircraft which is 307 million
00:26:24.400 over 20 years long-range land missiles 2.7 billion over 20 years right um and then kind of a bunch of
00:26:34.960 soft commitment items that come along with that and then i guess the last one uh that i just going
00:26:42.080 to get to in a minute here we we get to which is uh okay defend canada's global interest so this is
00:26:50.960 naval vessels so this is 9.9 billion over 20 years uh which this is uh frigates yes and the river class
00:27:02.960 frigate destroyers which are being built a nerving shipyard in halifax right and that's 9.9 billion
00:27:09.440 okay uh satellite communications 5.5 billion over 20 years for concert so we i don't know if we're
00:27:17.360 paying they're just giving someone that money or if we're doing that that's a bit it's a i think it's
00:27:22.320 a bit of everything okay so that's our contribution to defending global interests
00:27:26.640 and then modern artillery capability so and then there's uh tanks uh armored vehicles and surveillance
00:27:35.920 drones again so which just general kind of catch all numbers which they don't really give us numbers
00:27:41.360 they just kind of say that we're going to do it because and then that's what the national defense
00:27:46.080 and the government has been doing for decades they give you generalities they give you 20-year timelines
00:27:51.440 so no one really knows what exactly are we going to buy and how long it's going to take it the one
00:27:56.400 thing they did do is they they increased the payroll so a private now in the canadian military
00:28:00.880 yeah after boot camp and they join their unit makes 52 000 that's not bad yeah for me first start
00:28:08.480 first start i mean you could do a lot worse oh yeah three haunts in a cotton 52 000 a year and maybe learn
00:28:15.280 a trade in the military and but the combination of increased payroll and servicing all the old equipment
00:28:21.360 gets added into the two percent of their gdp for national defense right so but as far as buying
00:28:29.120 equipment a lot of the stuff that you've mentioned is stuff that commanders have been begging the
00:28:33.680 government to buy them for decades and now in the interim while they've waited warfare as we know it has
00:28:40.080 completely changed because of what's happening ukraine so now the equipment that they needed 10 years ago
00:28:45.440 is almost obsolescent obsolete because they need to buy new kinds of equipment to fight a new kind
00:28:51.520 of warfare so they have to figure that out what they're going to buy now but that's you know kind
00:28:56.240 of you know and i was kept saying you know the the timelines because as i was reading through it that's
00:29:01.760 what's jumping to my mind right away right technology ai everything happening like the timelines are so long
00:29:09.200 it's hard to believe that a lot of this is you know this is again we we talked about the you know the
00:29:15.920 streak or you know the eglinton lrt yeah yeah yeah you know by the time years and counting yeah by the
00:29:22.800 time it got built the actual cars were basically uh past their uh warranty dates and needed repair again
00:29:29.920 and they couldn't find parts so you know are we into that and then you know the question that jumped to
00:29:36.880 my mind right away is if this is a critical priority so coming up you know as everyone gets seated in
00:29:43.200 a few days if this is a is a priority item how do we or what do we do legislatively to expedite it into
00:29:53.920 process so you know we can sit around debate it you know we can you know we can go to christmas
00:29:59.680 everyone can go off and and you know get ready and have their christmas parties and then start again
00:30:05.520 you know back in february get a couple months and then again we're off for summer break you know
00:30:10.880 the legislative process is grinding because it doesn't go that long there's a lot of breaks in
00:30:15.920 it it's hard it's not getting any quicker it's it's getting slower it didn't get you know technology
00:30:20.720 did not speed up that crew right so you know my thinking is if it is a priority and we are concerned
00:30:28.160 about that discussion what legislatively can we do so take us through a little bit like what are the
00:30:34.880 rights and powers that could be put in place that they could do to move this ball forward if it is
00:30:41.360 now if it isn't quite frankly and we get to the you know the the everyone gets seated and it doesn't
00:30:47.520 then i think we need we need to come out and just say to people listen this isn't a priority so in
00:30:53.760 afghanistan for example we had of course our contribute contribution to the war against terrorism
00:31:00.720 and when their troops were there and the military was there and the commanders and generals were there
00:31:06.000 they realized they were missing critical pieces of equipment and kit to fight or because they would
00:31:11.840 cost unnecessary lives without it so the prime minister has the right to invoke national security
00:31:17.520 exception and urgent operational requirements or an issue of advanced contract award notice that's in a
00:31:23.920 time sensitive matter so there is um things in place there are rules in place for the prime minister
00:31:30.960 to invoke certain different rules within the government to say hey we need this right now we're
00:31:36.960 going to buy it what they call ots off the shelf right we're going to paint it in canadian colors and
00:31:43.200 send it to our troops and our sailors and our airmen right now so our pilots have it and everything now that
00:31:49.600 has only been used really recently in a couple times in the gulf war and then in the war in
00:31:55.920 afghanistan and because we're not technically at war we're just helping out people in ukraine i agree
00:32:02.000 with you paul it's going to be difficult when you're looking at a 70 80 billion dollar deficit budget budget
00:32:08.560 deficit when you table a budget and you're telling every department in the country to cut cut cut that
00:32:14.480 you're not going to cut the military in some way so when they say we're telling nato we're telling
00:32:19.680 donald trump we're going to build 12 of this and 15 to that they may actually have to reduce that
00:32:24.880 number and i think a lot of people in ottawa the national defense and the headquarters are kind of
00:32:29.440 expecting that looking at these deficit numbers yeah it's well again but then then it isn't a priority
00:32:37.200 i you know and i'm not trying i listen i'm the first one to say deficits got to be dealt with right
00:32:41.840 you know you know that and i harp on it all the time but we have to sit down and we have to
00:32:47.280 prioritize what we're going to put our monies in just like you would you your normal budget around
00:32:51.280 your household right yeah absolutely you'd like everything right you'd like a maserati you'd like
00:32:56.400 to you know buy a new house i'm a Volkswagen guy but i get it yeah i get that right but every year you
00:33:02.160 know you and your wife you sit down you budget out what you're doing but we can't do that this year
00:33:06.640 because it's not the budget exactly so and that's the priority building that you do it's the same
00:33:12.160 thing with a country a business a person it translates across everyone and so now like i think more than
00:33:20.000 ever i you know given that this is the light has been shone on it's so bright for us to just glaze
00:33:28.000 over it again i think would be a disservice i really do and i think honestly i think one of the things
00:33:34.080 we have to be careful about is i think the u.s will shine some light on it oh they're doing it
00:33:40.320 right now like i think i think our our you know former uh neighbor partner right uh will shine light
00:33:48.480 on and say hey hey by the way you know you said you were going to do this you're not going to do it
00:33:53.040 now and you're making long-term commitments to it you're not making short-term you're not putting
00:33:58.240 money into it you haven't put in your budget plan paul we're talking about america look at
00:34:03.760 holland germany france yes poland some of those european countries italy the amount of money italy
00:34:10.800 has spent on their armed forces in the last five years is staggering so we have all these european
00:34:15.440 nato countries yeah who have stepped up america is always stepping up and canada is going to have to
00:34:20.880 find a way um using some bright people way above my pay grade to take the money they have yet still
00:34:28.400 increase the amount of modern equipment the military needs and build a strong military so yes
00:34:33.440 they meet their requirement without blowing the budget there always is a way you know this from
00:34:38.880 oh yeah your years there has to be a way well it's again it's when we you know we're making a list to
00:34:44.480 prioritize projects in the country right now right and to me it's a priority building so if if the
00:34:50.240 military or defense is going to be a priority then those priority projects defense projects have to be up
00:34:55.440 there on that list right so you know that's that pick list you know where they're whether we just
00:35:00.480 you know rumors are flying out this morning about pipelines being left on the list off the list you
00:35:05.440 know military we're talking about today and defense where does that sit on the list and that'll show
00:35:11.760 it's interesting for the first time and i think it probably the first time uh in my lifetime
00:35:19.360 the number of canadians that will be fully focused on this list and what this budget is and where the
00:35:25.120 priorities are will be huge it's never been more intensely viewed never never i don't think a
00:35:31.360 canadian budget this budget will be viewed more than any other budget in the history of our country
00:35:36.480 and so you brought up you brought up the pipeline something we've talked about about the need for
00:35:41.600 elbows up build canada strong build a pipeline ship natural gas and oil to europe so they don't have
00:35:47.680 to buy it from russia and right away there are multiple sources telling radio canada that that's
00:35:53.920 off the table yeah so when i hear a story like that paul there's no way for me to logically think that
00:36:00.240 all the wish list of the armed forces will be on the table in this budget there will be cuts
00:36:06.240 and the armed forces will be no different you can't cut the the cra and um the civil service and this
00:36:13.520 and that department and not cut one so you listed all the different departments you can't have one
00:36:19.040 that's untouched and cut the rest i just can't see how that happens well i guess we're going to find
00:36:24.400 out we will find out it's a never-ending debate in this country he's paul i'm jim and he's got
00:36:30.000 all the answers that's why i like to talk
00:36:41.920 you