[bootlegga]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

What the hell?!? What possible reason could there be for going to Edmonchuk now??

The sub ride sucked anyways - it never really submerged, it just lowered five or six feet into the water, and the conning tower stayed above water the whole time. IMO, it wasn't much better than a glass bottom boat ride.

The rest of the mall is still pretty good - especially the water park and amusement park - it's also cool to go to the ice rink in the evenings, when local teams play hockey on it. Even better, every once in a blue moon, the Oilers hold a practice there.

[EyeBrock]

The Libs tried to do defence procurement on the cheap, this is just one of a long list of political acquisitions by the former Libs that turned out to be a huge waste of our limited defence budget. This isn’t a partisan jab, I’m just saying that on defence a lot of very silly decisions were made by an administration that was openly dismissive of the CF.

Until the core of the Lib caucus loses this inherent anti-military tenet I can’t vote for them. Bob Rae is just more of the same when it comes to the CF.

You can’t do defence on the cheap.

Scrap the subs, we have had them 9 years and they still are not operational. What a waste of our money.

[ShepherdsDog]

Try and recover some of the money by selling parts and and or scrap metal. One could be kept as a mock up for training purposes but the other three should find a use as razor blades

[saturn_656]

Chretien, though long gone, continues to negatively impact the CF to this day.

[EyeBrock]

Maybe fire-fighter training?

[martin14]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

Try and recover some of the money by selling parts and and or scrap metal. One could be kept as a mock up for training purposes but the other three should find a use as razor blades

floating restaurants.. if any of them still float.

[Scape]

Cbc has their panties in a knot again. The damaged part is fibreglass, ie superficial so looks worse than actual. Also these parts are kept in stores and there is one in Shearwater.

[saturn_656]

Doesn't change the fact we've had these subs for a decade and they are still not combat capable.

Unacceptable.

[bootlegga]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

The Libs tried to do defence procurement on the cheap, this is just one of a long list of political acquisitions by the former Libs that turned out to be a huge waste of our limited defence budget. This isn’t a partisan jab, I’m just saying that on defence a lot of very silly decisions were made by an administration that was openly dismissive of the CF.

Until the core of the Lib caucus loses this inherent anti-military tenet I can’t vote for them. Bob Rae is just more of the same when it comes to the CF.

You can’t do defence on the cheap.

Scrap the subs, we have had them 9 years and they still are not operational. What a waste of our money.

You know, I'm tempted to agree with you, but Harper really hasn't been all that much better than the Liberals.

Sure, he's ordered a few big items for them since he got in to office, but if you're one of the defence spending as a percentage of GDP guys(and I think you are), his per capita defence spending isn't much higher than the Liberals was in the early 2000s, and in some cases, lower than some years in the so-called decade of darkness'.

1994 - 1.7%
1995 - 1.6%
1997 - 1.4%
1998 - 1.2%
1999 - 1.3%
2000 - 1.1%
2001 - 1.2%
2002 - 1.2%
2003 - 1.1%
2004 - 1.1%
2005 - 1.1%
2006 - 1.2%
2007 - 1.2%
2008 - 1.3%
2009 - 1.5%

http://milexdata.sipri.org/

I'd be interested to see if defence spending has increased or fallen over the past couple of years, given the way the budget has gone into deficit. I'm also curious which direction it will go now that we no longer have a battlegroup in Afghanistan.

I fully admit that real defence dollars have increased sharply under Harper (close to 30% comparing 2009 to 2005 under Martin), and that's a good thing, but if we're going to continue to be criticized by our allies for not spending enough per capita wise, he's got a ways to go too.

IMHO, he should have used some of the stimulus to buy Canadian - new LAVs from factories in Edmonton and London, new SAR planes from Victoria-based Viking Air, new ships from our shipyards, etc. Lord knows we need it all - nad it would have produced good paying jobs in a variety of places in Canada.

I hope the climb continued, but I'm doubtful. Frankly, neither party has distinguished themselves in the defence portfolio in decades...too bad there wasn't a third-party alternative.

[BartSimpson]

Meanwhile the US has a bunch of nuc boats alongside and it seems to me you folks should be asking us if you can buy a few of them.

The Canadian Navy sporting a half dozen Ohio class boomers converted into attack subs would be one of the most formidable navies on the planet.

[2Cdo]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Meanwhile the US has a bunch of nuc boats alongside and it seems to me you folks should be asking us if you can buy a few of them.

The Canadian Navy sporting a half dozen Ohio class boomers converted into attack subs would be one of the most formidable navies on the planet.

The mere idea of a nuke boat would put the NDP into a state of shock! Even after explaining they are nuclear powered and not nuclear armed.

[Gunnair]

Scape Scape:

Cbc has their panties in a knot again. The damaged part is fibreglass, ie superficial so looks worse than actual. Also these parts are kept in stores and there is one in Shearwater.

Bit more to it than that.

[DrCaleb]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

The Canadian Navy sporting a half dozen Ohio class boomers converted into attack subs would be one of the most formidable navies on the planet.

I get a little tent in my trousers just thinking about it.

[Gunnair]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Meanwhile the US has a bunch of nuc boats alongside and it seems to me you folks should be asking us if you can buy a few of them.

The Canadian Navy sporting a half dozen Ohio class boomers converted into attack subs would be one of the most formidable navies on the planet.

No.

No infrastructure to support and buying used US boats doesn't make much more sense than buying used UK boats. Besides, if the US was do keen on us running one if their Ohios (why would we) then they'd be pounding at our door with an offer to good to pass up.

Nope, be content that we've bought into the F-35 bag of dicks program.

[Gunnair]

2Cdo 2Cdo:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Meanwhile the US has a bunch of nuc boats alongside and it seems to me you folks should be asking us if you can buy a few of them.

The Canadian Navy sporting a half dozen Ohio class boomers converted into attack subs would be one of the most formidable navies on the planet.

The mere idea of a nuke boat would put the NDP into a state of shock! Even after explaining they are nuclear powered and not nuclear armed.

That's partisan nonsense. You'd have to convince every party and the citizens of Victoria and Halifax that nuke boats are good.