[bootlegga]

Yes, the CF is doing better, but it isn't goodenough IMHO. His platform is 'Canada First', yet most of the effort goes into Afghanistan. I understand we got troops in the shit, but when 100% of the budget goes there, there is something wrong. Hell, last year the Navy ran out of money to buy gas to do coastal patrols.

All I ask for is some sembalance of balance..he's spent/earmarked almost $8 billion on items specifically for Afghanistan (C-17s, Ch-47D/Fs, tanks, C-130Js, etc) but is too cheap to maintain the Auroras, keep his promise of three heavy icebreakers, or even fund the JSS, one of four projects he announced with such fanfre last summer.

Perhaps if he wasn't so concerned with giving tax breaks to his rich buddies, we could afford at least one of those things...his priorities are al screwed up.

[uwish]

tax breaks for rich buddies?

you must be rich then? cause the GST cut affects you as much as anyone else.

[DerbyX]

uwish uwish:

tax breaks for rich buddies?

you must be rich then? cause the GST cut affects you as much as anyone else.

Paid for by jacking up the income tax rate or did you forget that part?

[PENATRATOR]

So Boots, with the money available, should we ensure that the Navy has the money to sail down to the Caribean to paint their ships and piss it up in Feb or spent the money on bullets for guys actively engaging a determined enemy? What is your priority at this time?

[bootlegga]

PENATRATOR PENATRATOR:

So Boots, with the money available, should we ensure that the Navy has the money to sail down to the Caribean to paint their ships and piss it up in Feb or spent the money on bullets for guys actively engaging a determined enemy? What is your priority at this time?

Well, seeing as how the Navy is fighting pirates off the Somali coast, I'd say they have a need of funding too.

If you must know, my priority is the CF. Not the Army, not the PPCLI, not the air force, not 440 squadron, not MARPAC, etc, but the CF. Why? Because we need ALL of it to protect Canadian sovereignty, both here and abroad.

[PENATRATOR]

Fighting pirates?? lol
A Canadian frigate is hardly worried about a somali "pirate ship". A very poor comparison to combat in Afghanistan.

Why no uproar over the "Pirate fighting" off the East coast of Africa by Canadian war ships from the Libs/NDP anyways? Are they threatening Canada?

[bootlegga]

Of course the 'pirates' off the coast of Somalia aren't the same as fighting the Taliban. The mission, however, is as important, if not more. Guarding those food ships and deterring pirates means thousands of people get to eat today, tomorrow and the next day.

Everyone here bitches that Canada is a nobody on the international scene and that other countries don't respect us. Well, guess how we earn that respect? Things like guarding the Suez Canal during a ceasefire, walking the line in Cyprus, kicking ass in Korea, fighting the Taliban, creating fresh drinking water for Sri Lankans after a tsunami and guarding food ships are some of the ways the CF does that.

As gung ho as you are, the CF is not all about fighting. Yes, the vast majority of its mission profiles include combat. However, simply being there can deter combat in the first place. An excellent example of this was the 40+ years our troops spent in Germany. That didn't involve a lick of combat, but certainly prevented a war didn't it?

Same goes for our naval missions to Haiti, East Timor, Louisana, and other places. All of them may not involve combat but are still important, either in training our sailors for future combat situations or preventing it in the first place.

Yes, the army needs funding for Afghanistan, but it's not the be all and end all of the CF. Funding needs to be disbursed to all the services.

[bootlegga]

uwish uwish:

tax breaks for rich buddies?

you must be rich then? cause the GST cut affects you as much as anyone else.

Hardly.

Given that I haven't made any major purchases (car/home/etc), I'm further behind than before he came to power, because he removed the income tax cut the Libs gave us. The GST is a consumption tax, and being that I'm middle class, I can't consume anywhere close to what someone making six figures can...

[uwish]

well, someone has to pay for adscam, might as well be the lefties.

never mind the billion dollar HRDC boondoggle not to mention the 2Billion dollar gun registry.

[llama66]

Pirates off the African cost is quite disconcerting, remember a large percentage of international trade is done by ship, and the Somali coast is along some major shipping routes. we need to stomp out the Somali pirates. might as well be us.