No new military funding in Budget 2009
Just a quick comment….
Today’s federal budget released by the Conservative Government touts an approximately $84 billion deficit over the next over four years, as the government moves to provide significant economic stimulus to the Canadian economy. Yet, the Government seems to have ignored one of the best ways to provide economic stimulus to the construction industry, while providing a very important benefit to our nation’s military.
Included in the budget is a significant investment in federally-owned infrastructure renewal in the amount of $323 million for the upcoming fiscal year. Yet, only $2 million of this is earmarked for Department of National Defence facilities – specifically the funding of a plan, by Public Works, to determine the future use of the Manège Militaire site in Québec City, which burned to the ground last year. The federal government has essentially ignored a prime opportunity to further invest in the renewal of the badly-degraded infrastructure of Canada’s military establishment (which is a deficit worth billions of dollars in construction work).
No one expected the military to get funding for new equipment in this budget, but the military was certainly wrongly overlooked, given that it received only a $2 million share of a two-year $12 billion nationwide infrastructure investment (and that $2 million doesn’t even go directly to the military, but to Public Works). What a missed opportunity! At least, in my opinion….
