Canada’s poor treatment of its own military troops
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
236.46233
Summary
In this episode, we discuss the lack of equipment for Canadian soldiers, and why it's a symptom of a deeper, deeper problem than a lack of support from the government. We also talk about the impact of demonizing Canada's history, and the role of the military, and what we should do about it.
Transcript
00:00:09.780
Yeah, it's good to get the negativity out somehow.
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Jane doesn't have to deal with it as much out of me then.
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and then just to remind everybody at spencerfernando.com,
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there's lots of them you're putting out all the time,
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the almost apologetic statement from the government
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And you talking, putting out how the lack of equipment
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for Canadian troops, it signifies a deeper decline
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tell a whole generation of people that Canada's history
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and we should feel guilty and sad about everything.
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You know, then at the same time, you're saying, oh, well,
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you know, sign up, join the military and, you know,
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go overseas to, you know, defend our national interest.
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Well, how can you really have national interest if you're,
00:01:18.600
I mean, I think we just saw that they just asked
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for the authority to spend 20 billion extra dollars this year
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over what they'd already budgeted, which itself was a massive increase
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The only place where it seems they don't spend much money
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I mean, they sent people over, I think it was to Latvia,
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and, you know, they're having to buy their own helmets.
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I mean, so, you know, it's, it's, we'll, I'm sure we'll get
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to the moral aspect of, you know, sending people to harm's way
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But I, I do think we are seeing a deeper problem with just the fact
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We've made people think Canada's, you know, based on bad values,
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you know, Western civilization is, it's no better
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And so when you kind of depress a country like that and depress
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a whole generation about their past and their history, then, you know,
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how do you expect people to, to join the military?
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And how do you expect to have a government that sees the value
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of the military or have citizens that see the value of the military?
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Because, you know, it's not just, it's easy to blame the politicians,
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but, you know, most Canadians don't vote on whether the military
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So I think it's a serious problem, especially in a world
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It's, it's dangerous sometimes and difficult career path
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to take the people who join typically are feeling that
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They love that's what would help them, I guess, overlook
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They're getting back from the military, such as perhaps not
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being as well equipped or, or, you know, what not as they
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But if they're at the same time being told they should be ashamed
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of the nation and being under equipped, this is a terrible
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And, you know, it's, you know, one of the ironies,
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it was some of the soldiers, the other NATO troops that were
00:03:10.520
over there, I think from the Netherlands, had better equipment
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than the Canadians, and much of the equipment was actually Canadian.
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You know, they've been buying Canadian equipment for some time.
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We just don't buy it for our own soldiers and we don't equip them.
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And so, and then there's, of course, the aspect of, you know,
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Justin Trudeau postures is a, you know, big defender of NATO
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He talks about it all the time, but, you know, it's just words
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So he says all the, all the nice words about, you know,
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supporting NATO and freedom and democracy and all that stuff.
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But you send people overseas, you know, into the idea is that
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if there's a big war, they're going to be involved in it.
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That's the reason we're sending people over there is a deterrent,
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but obviously they'd be on the front line if a massive war broke out.
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So how can you justify sending them over there if you're not
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You're basically saying, yeah, well, we just hope nothing bad happens
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because if it does, you'll be under equipped and your chances of dying.
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So again, you know, I don't see how, you know, it's sad that Canadians
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are not more outraged about this because we're sending people
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We're spending massive amounts of money every year,
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but somehow not, you know, prioritizing our national defense.
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So, you know, I see, you know, all these people who posture as,
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you know, they're supporters of NATO and, you know, oppose Russia.
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That's fine, but, you know, we live in the real world,
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and that means if you want to really oppose Russia and stand up for NATO,
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We need to be able to, if necessary, fight and succeed in a major war.
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And so, you know, I think there's a lot of talk in this country
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about what our values are supposedly, but we undermine those values
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both by, of course, demonizing our history, and then we undermine
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those values by not living up to our military commitments
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So, you know, I don't know why people would really take our country
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And this has been going on, actually, for a long, long time.
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I remember during one of the Gulf Wars, for one, we had to take a gun
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out of surplus because they didn't actually have a gun for their boat
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And a bunch of our soldiers went overseas and they showed up in the desert
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And of course, they stood out like sore thumbs.
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So other soldiers lent them ponchos to cover their olive green uniforms.
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And how humiliating that must have been for them.
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You know, when you're serving overseas in these other countries
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that they're lending you these things out of a sense of goodwill
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But if this hasn't been solved after decades of underfunding the military,
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And as you said, Canadians don't seem to get upset enough about this.
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Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm doing the best I can to try to wake
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more people up about it, but it's certainly a tough task.
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And, you know, one of the strange things about it is if you look
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at the country that Canada most resembles, you know,
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militarily in terms of our attitude towards the military
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and underfunding, ironically, it's Germany, right?
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I mean, they promised recently they were going to boost their military funding
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But it's a lot because Germany, you can understand why they'd be a little reticent
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I mean, they've got a history where certainly the idea of saying, you know,
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we're pretty ashamed of what we did in the past.
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Canada, of course, is fighting on the opposite side of that.
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But we seem to have the same kind of almost ashamed attitude of all the military.
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And so, you know, I don't know if it will change.
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It's an attitude that obviously comes, I think, from, you know,
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You know, I see people say, oh, we don't need a military
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or America will protect us or, you know, who needs a big military today's day
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and age and again, you know, a big military is something
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that certainly looks like a waste of money most of the time.
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But when you need it, you know, it better be there
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because you can't just build it up instantly, right?
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And so, you know, I think all the people who claim that they, you know,
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support NATO and claim that Canada, you know, should be a part of defending,
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you know, our values against, you know, countries like Russia,
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against countries like China, that's only credible
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You know, you have to have a strong military to be able
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So, you know, I think maybe it's because Canada hasn't had any,
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you know, internal military conflicts for a long time.
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You know, we didn't fight a major war of independence.
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But, you know, I think it's something that we don't want
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to overlook because it's, you know, you don't want to be in a situation
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where you're desperately trying to build up a military
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I would think it doesn't have to be a large military,
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The current military is using, they're using sidearms from World War II.
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I remember a series of columns on the National Post.
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You could go to Cabela's with a couple million dollars
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and get them updated sidearms in a week if you really wanted to,
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and they still can't even manage to get this done.
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I mean, it seems almost if it's that bad that it's purposeful
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that maybe they're trying to starve this military out of existence.
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Yeah, there certainly does seem to be part of that attitude at play here.
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You know, and as you say, it doesn't need to be a massive military.
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We're not a big country in terms of population,
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but certainly we could have a very advanced air force.
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You know, we could be a leader in drone technology, missile technology,
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and then have a small but very well-equipped, you know, military.
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And, you know, even in terms of cost, I mean, it's not really that expensive.
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I mean, NATO's asking us to spend 2% of GDP on our military.
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They're spending 4%, 5%, 6%, way more militaries, even the U.S.
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supposedly being some big, you know, imperial military power.
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They spend, you know, about average, you know, as the world goes
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on their military per capita or as a percentage of their GDP.
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They just have a huge GDP, so it looks like big spending.
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So we don't need to be, you know, it's not like we're going
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It's just basically doing the bare minimum, basically saying, look,
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We're going to have soldiers who are well-trained and well-equipped.
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And if we need to help our allies, then we can do so.
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And so that really shouldn't be too much to ask.
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I mean, the flip side is you look at it from the American perspective.
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By not funding our own military and then by saying, oh, America will protect us.
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We're basically saying, oh, Americans will die to protect Canadians
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You know, if we expect the Americans to help us if we're in trouble,
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we should be able to at least do a little bit to help them if they get in trouble.
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And so I think just, you know, strategically, morally, ethically, you know,
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having a decent military is certainly not something we can overlook in today's world.
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Well, we'll keep debating anyways and keep pushing and shoving
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and trying to keep a balance in the nation, I would hope.
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I appreciate your contributions and your columns going out there.
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Just to kind of remind everybody one more time before I let you go,
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where can we find where you're writing and where your presence is out there, Spencer?
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And then I publish one column about once a week for the National Citizens Coalition.
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Well, I appreciate you joining the show again, Spencer.
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