Canada’s Military current state & equipment

[Ron in Regina]

I keep reading about the deplorable state of the equipment being given to our military, and the lack of members…& then I see other stories about us giving away military aid to other nations (Ukraine, Haiti, etc…while selling more armament to Saudi Arabia).

Is it really as bad as I read (?) and if so what are we sending for aid militarily elsewhere???

Canada sends military equipment to Haiti as power-struggle continues — The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - The federal government has sent armoured vehicles and other supplies to Haiti to help police fight a powerful gang amid a pending request from the Haitian government for the immediate deployment of foreign troops.

apple.news

Canadian military support to Ukraine - Canada.ca

We continue to actively look at what more we can do to support Ukraine. Minister Anand remains in close contact with Ukrainian officials through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, and on a bilateral basis.

www.canada.ca

Jesse Kline: Armed Forces admit there's no one left to use its rusted out gear

The current personnel crisis is the end result of decades of neglect and priorities that have little to do with military readiness

nationalpost.com

List of equipment of the Canadian Army - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Saudi Arabia top export destination for Canadian arms after United States in 2021

Almost all of Canada’s arms exports to Saudi Arabia are combat vehicles, as part of the $15-billion contract brokered by the Harper government but approved by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

www.theglobeandmail.com

It reads like a garage sale, where a hoarder is trying to free up space while avoiding landfill fees. What condition and vintage of military equipment is Canada giving to countries like Haiti & Ukraine???

 

[Ron in Regina]

Trying to do a little research on this out of curiosities sake on a Sunday morning…& stubble across a military surplus sale of government equipment. Crazy shit. Not the direction I was looking, but still interesting and weird:

Browse items for sale - Open bidding

Search for federal government surplus using keywords, location, category and posting/closing date

www.gcsurplus.ca

GCMil

Bidding on and buying federal government surplus such as trucks, office equipment, machinery and appliances

www.gcsurplus.ca

 

[Serryah]

Personally, Canada doesn't do enough for the military.

I think it's important we help people across the world, yes, because helping them does keep us more secure.

But we don't do enough for our military people and their families, and that includes supplying them and care.

Sadly in order to do more, that'd mean more taxes, or nixing the taxes that go to one place in order to push it into the military.

There are solutions but... no one wants to talk about those.

I also think there is NO excuse (other than old "promises" to the US) that we can't develop our own stuff. In this day and age with tech available, and other countries sometimes coming to companies HERE for THEIR supplies, why aren't we building our own (well, I do know why but that goes into the taxes bit).

I just don't see us putting in that effort, because we're NOT a more military pushed/focused society like other nations are.

 

[petros]

Trying to do a little research on this out of curiosities sake on a Sunday morning…& stubble across a military surplus sale of government equipment. Crazy shit. Not the direction I was looking, but still interesting and weird:

Browse items for sale - Open bidding

Search for federal government surplus using keywords, location, category and posting/closing date

www.gcsurplus.ca

GCMil

Bidding on and buying federal government surplus such as trucks, office equipment, machinery and appliances

www.gcsurplus.ca

Id like to be more supportive but the bras were a CBSA seizure (1. This is a forfeited item.).

The military site is more mundane shit than anything else. Crap like radios, satlinks, oil filters, pumps, office junk, outdated medical, outboard motors, shop equipment, etc. Nothing weapons or ammo wise is auctioned online.

 

[Ron in Regina]

I was looking at a 2021 Vespa also with 300kms on it. Red with a white stripe and it looked like a fishing spoon. $5300 was that last bit.

 

[petros]

I wanted a Ford Explorer cop car but GSC doesnt sell them any longer after the east coast nutter used a Taurus cop car clone.

 

[Ron in Regina]

My Father had a 1978 Fury (they just put screws in the roof with a dab of silicone when they decommissioned it). That thing was nuts!! Hugh alternator, only a 318 but holy shit!!

 

[petros]

My Father had a 1978 Fury (they just put screws in the roof with a dab of silicone when the decommissioned it). That this was nuts!! Hugh alternator, only a 318 but holy shit!!

Yeah. 190AMP on the explorer cop car. Great for welding 3/4" plate.

 

[Taxslave2]

I keep reading about the deplorable state of the equipment being given to our military, and the lack of members…& then I see other stories about us giving away military aid to other nations (Ukraine, Haiti, etc…while selling more armament to Saudi Arabia).

Is it really as bad as I read (?) and if so what are we sending for aid militarily elsewhere???

Canada sends military equipment to Haiti as power-struggle continues — The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - The federal government has sent armoured vehicles and other supplies to Haiti to help police fight a powerful gang amid a pending request from the Haitian government for the immediate deployment of foreign troops.

apple.news

Canadian military support to Ukraine - Canada.ca

We continue to actively look at what more we can do to support Ukraine. Minister Anand remains in close contact with Ukrainian officials through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, and on a bilateral basis.

www.canada.ca

Jesse Kline: Armed Forces admit there's no one left to use its rusted out gear

The current personnel crisis is the end result of decades of neglect and priorities that have little to do with military readiness

nationalpost.com

List of equipment of the Canadian Army - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Saudi Arabia top export destination for Canadian arms after United States in 2021

Almost all of Canada’s arms exports to Saudi Arabia are combat vehicles, as part of the $15-billion contract brokered by the Harper government but approved by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

www.theglobeandmail.com

It reads like a garage sale, where a hoarder is trying to free up space while avoiding landfill fees. What condition and vintage of military equipment is Canada giving to countries like Haiti & Ukraine???

Well, when I worked at CFB Comox about 15 years ago, there were soldiers packing swords, which does not strike me as a very good thing to use when everyone else has automatic weapons.

 

[Ron in Regina]

US to push for multinational Haiti intervention force in Canada talks — FRANCE 24 English

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads Thursday to Canada for talks expected to focus on Haiti, with an American official voicing hope for progress on setting up an intervention force to address the impoverished Caribbean nation's spiralling security and health crises.

apple.news

FIRST READING: Is Canada really going to invade Haiti? — National Post

The entire Canadian Army could provide just 11,000 front-line soldiers, roughly the same amount of personnel as the Toronto Police

apple.news

With their country increasingly overrun by gangs, Haiti’s political leaders are now calling for a foreign military intervention to restore order in the Caribbean nation.

While it’s usually the United States that does these kinds of things, this time the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden suggested that Canada should do it – an idea that wasn’t immediately dismissed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “Canada is very open to playing an important role, but we must have a Haitian consensus,” he said at a summit of La Francophonie in Tunisia.

But with the Canadian military plagued by critical shortages of almost everything as well as one of the worst staffing crises in its history, there are almost no circumstances in which it would be even remotely possible to mount a “friendly invasion” (?) of Haiti.

(R&R could be done in the Dominican Republic though without needing a canoe to get there)

Right now, the Canadian Army has roughly 23,000 active-duty personnel – and fewer than half of those are front-line soldiers. So, even if Canada scrambled its entire army into the Caribbean, that’s going to work out to about 11,000 people with guns.

For context, Ontario has a population roughly equivalent to that of Haiti, and they have more than 28,000 sworn police officers. Toronto alone has 7,600 uniformed personnel in its police force, in addition to civilian staff and auxiliaries. And Ontario has nothing like the more than 200 paramilitary gangs currently operating in the Haitian capital alone.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Well, Joe ain't stupid.

 

[Dixie Cup]

Well, when I worked at CFB Comox about 15 years ago, there were soldiers packing swords, which does not strike me as a very good thing to use when everyone else has automatic weapons.

Were they Sheiks?

 

[Ron in Regina]

Well, Joe ain't stupid.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Were they Sheiks?

"Sheiks?"

I imagine not too many heads of Arab tribes join the Canadian Forces.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Well, when I worked at CFB Comox about 15 years ago, there were soldiers packing swords, which does not strike me as a very good thing to use when everyone else has automatic weapons.

Were they Sheiks?

Depending on somebody’s competency with a sword (& the style of sword itself), I’m not sure I’d wanna go up against somebody who grew up with a machete in their hand.

Haitian Fencing

The Haitian Machete Fencing Project

www.haitianfencing.org

 

[Twin_Moose]

My Father had a 1978 Fury (they just put screws in the roof with a dab of silicone when they decommissioned it). That thing was nuts!! Hugh alternator, only a 318 but holy shit!!

My dad bought a '73 Impala with a 454 Interceptor in it as a kid I remember that thing was nuts, my Uncle would drive the piss out of it all I remember is trees and power poles were a blur lol

 

[Dixie Cup]

"Sheiks?"

I imagine not too many heads of Arab tribes join the Canadian Forces.

Oops! I meant the Sikhs. Sorry about that!

 

[Jinentonix]

Personally, Canada doesn't do enough for the military.

I think it's important we help people across the world, yes, because helping them does keep us more secure.

But we don't do enough for our military people and their families, and that includes supplying them and care.

Sadly in order to do more, that'd mean more taxes, or nixing the taxes that go to one place in order to push it into the military.

I'm sure some of the $6 billion plus we spend on foreign aid could be redirected to our military. I also bet there's a fuck ton of inefficiencies in govt that could go a long way to having a properly funded and equipped military.

There are solutions but... no one wants to talk about those.

I also think there is NO excuse (other than old "promises" to the US) that we can't develop our own stuff. In this day and age with tech available, and other countries sometimes coming to companies HERE for THEIR supplies, why aren't we building our own (well, I do know why but that goes into the taxes bit).

I just don't see us putting in that effort, because we're NOT a more military pushed/focused society like other nations are.

When the 75th anniversary of the Canadian liberation of Holland rolled around, I was kind of embarrassed. Holland's military is MUCH better equipped than ours is today. We're a three-ocean country (with a Great Lakes navy) and yet Holland's navy is superior to ours in size and capability.
Holland even has attack helicopters. We have none. Netherlands population is just 17 million. So, it's not necessarily about raising taxes or creating new ones but being responsible and ACCOUNTABLE with the taxes that are already being paid.

About 20 years ago I was in Minnesota and I met a retired US Navy vet. He had wonderful things to say about our navy, back when we actually still had one. He was on an exchange with our navy at one point and told me that he admired the professionalism of our sailors and that our ships were kept in better condition than the USN's ships. By that he meant clean, barnacle-free hulls that always looked freshly painted and the general cleanliness of the ships.
When I told him what our govt had let the navy turn into he actually shed a tear. You know it's bad when navy veteran from another country chokes up when he hears what happened to Canada's navy.

 

[Jinentonix]

Oops! I meant the Sikhs. Sorry about that!

Gurkhas. Those guys are for fucking real.

 

[Jinentonix]

Well, when I worked at CFB Comox about 15 years ago, there were soldiers packing swords, which does not strike me as a very good thing to use when everyone else has automatic weapons.

Yep, but if it comes down to hand-to-hand combat, sword beats trench knife.