from what I have read Australia depsite its significantly smaller population spends more money on their military than Canada does.......but I guess if we had a draft we would have more manpower.
That was once true, however since 2003 there has been a steady increase in the amount of money spent on the Canadian Forces. Last fiscal year (2005) the Canadian Government spent in the neighbourhood of $14 Billion on defence, while for the same period the Australian Defence Force only received $10 Billion. The Australians are planning to boost their annual defence spending to around $15 Billion, however despite talks no gears have been put in motion to realocate the funding. As for Canada, the CF has been allocated for the 2006 fiscal year a $5 Billion hike in funding, with an additional $7 Billion in the following year, placing Canada's defence spending at around $26 Billion by the end of 2007. This is a result of a renewed interest by the Canadian public in the welfare of it's soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Hopefully this trend will continue and additional funds will be funneled to the Forces. As for a draft I highly doubt our nation will ever see one of those put in to effect. We went through three major conflicts during the 20th Century and never instituted a draft/conscription (although plans were layed at the end of World War II).
The only reason Australia spends more money per capita is because they know what it is like to be invaded. Ever since Darwin was attacked they've been more aware of external threats.
As I pointed out above the CF currently receives more funding per annum than the ADF does. Granted this is a recent swing in the CFs favor. With regard to Australia being invaded/occupied, that wouldn't be such an easy task consideing:
A. How large their nation is
B. How spread out their major centres are
Yes a nation could invaded Australia, but could they occupy it? No.
Canadians love to put down their military, yet when plans are put into place to beef it up, we complain about the cost.
That trend is slowly changing for the better. Since we invaded Afghanistan in 2001 along with the U.S. people have gained a certain curiosity about our Forces. While support has always been large in the West, the East is now becoming more involved in the welfare of the CF. Take for example the new equipment Canada has been receiving since 2002, an entirely restructured fighting system that goes from new combat uniforms to load bearing vests (that the U.S. and Britain envy), to new boots (that are cammo), to an all gortex clothing system. Couple that with a new installment of weapons and vehicles; C7A2s, G-Wagons, M777 towed 155mm Howitzers, and Naylas and you've got the makings for an utterly reformed military. Yes people still poke fun at the Forces, but they base their jokes upon the ways things were in the late 90s. The CF is utterly reformed both in a physical and tactical sense.
New Canadian Forces CADPAT Boot
