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


Transcript

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