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Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

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Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#21

Post by groby_b »

Just in case people miss the core message: This is something you do if you have a credible risk assessment that you think a big conflict is a possibility within the next decade or so.

And, as much as I'd like to focus on deteriorating Canada/US relations, it's likely a dual purpose. The Ukraine/Russia/NATO situation would be the second factor. OK, a triad, China/US is also on the radar. Whatever the weighting, it's pushed Canada to work on a mobilization framework, because the combined risk is high enough.

Which means "oh shit" feelings are entirely appropriate, panic isn't.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#22

Post by seanmcdirmid »

mmooss wrote: post #17
incomingpain wrote: post #10

Canada has been running about 1% of gdp military spending, despite obligation of 2%; with new promise to meet 5%. a 500% increase to the size of our military in short order is the promise. Our reserves are at about 40,000. They announced the plan to go to 400,000. 10x the size. It's not so much about any outside fears, it's just meeting our obligations.The fear about Russia or China is unfounded. The problem is that…

> The fear about Russia or China is unfounded. That dismisses the greatest security threats of the era with a word. Most people in that field think those threats are very well-founded. Should Canada take the risk that everything will be fine? I don't know much about Canada's current plans and how effective they would be.

Canada right now is trying to figure out if the greatest their to their security is China or the USA. They can tie their boat to either against the other, but they can't be allies with both.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#23

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

fidotron wrote: post #9

The most damning thing about this is the Canadian gov would struggle to find 300k people in the rest of the population that it would trust with skilling up in those ways. Federal public servants will be the last bastion of the values they try to force on everyone else. It is in the process of spending vast amounts of money to remove guns from legal gun owners that are subject to absolutely amazing amounts of oversigh…

HN seems to hate this but you're right. The type of people the military relies on are not in power in Canada and haven't been for some time.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#24

Post by fidotron »

thunderfork wrote: post #18
fidotron wrote: post #9

The most damning thing about this is the Canadian gov would struggle to find 300k people in the rest of the population that it would trust with skilling up in those ways. Federal public servants will be the last bastion of the values they try to force on everyone else. It is in the process of spending vast amounts of money to remove guns from legal gun owners that are subject to absolutely amazing amounts of oversigh…

I don't think this is true. It's just much easier to bring in people when you have access to them to ask directly, basically. In my short experience in public service, I met a great number of people who were not in lockstep with the so-called "values they try to force" (i.e. the political plans of the current government), so it seems they're not doing a great job of "forcing" those values if that's the plan.

They have enough problems keeping the people they currently have in the military on the same page.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-caf-charges-terrorism-...

The general response to this was amazement that the MP or RCMP actually did anything about it, given what occurs within those.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#25

Post by cthaeh »

mmooss wrote: post #17
incomingpain wrote: post #10

Canada has been running about 1% of gdp military spending, despite obligation of 2%; with new promise to meet 5%. a 500% increase to the size of our military in short order is the promise. Our reserves are at about 40,000. They announced the plan to go to 400,000. 10x the size. It's not so much about any outside fears, it's just meeting our obligations.The fear about Russia or China is unfounded. The problem is that…

> The fear about Russia or China is unfounded. That dismisses the greatest security threats of the era with a word. Most people in that field think those threats are very well-founded. Should Canada take the risk that everything will be fine? I don't know much about Canada's current plans and how effective they would be.

[dead]

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#26

Post by exe34 »

everdrive wrote: post #8
colechristensen wrote: post #3

[flagged]

Perhaps another sign of the times: commenters are responding with animosity to your suggestion that Americans and Canadians are incredibly close.

I imagine it's hard to feel too close to people who elected a clown who wants to invade you.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#27

Post by mmooss »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #22
mmooss wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fear about Russia or China is unfounded. That dismisses the greatest security threats of the era with a word. Most people in that field think those threats are very well-founded. Should Canada take the risk that everything will be fine? I don't know much about Canada's current plans and how effective they would be.

Canada right now is trying to figure out if the greatest their to their security is China or the USA. They can tie their boat to either against the other, but they can't be allies with both.

Can they be allies with neither? They are trying to improve relations with the EU and, most importantly, are members of NATO (where the US is also a member).

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#28

Post by chawco »

colechristensen wrote: post #3

[flagged]

Yeah, it's not a historical quirk, really. In talking to many Americans it seems like they don't really cover loyalists at all, or what happened after the Revolutionary War. Much of what became Canada was settled by former colonists from the what became the United States who remained loyal to the crown. My hometown was founded by loyalists from New York -- including the mayor of New York City -- after the Revolutionary War.

Essentially we are even closer than many people think in terms of history, but Canadian identity was seeded from the beginning with the idea of rejecting being "American". We are indeed your closest brothers and sisters because of history, but it's no quirk at all that we're separate -- it's the entire reason we stayed separate at all.

You can also see the reverse play out -- what would become Alberta was settled by large numbers of American colonists moving to Canada, and to this day you can see the cultural impact of that in the politics and world view from the region.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#29

Post by thunderfork »

fidotron wrote: post #24
thunderfork wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this is true. It's just much easier to bring in people when you have access to them to ask directly, basically. In my short experience in public service, I met a great number of people who were not in lockstep with the so-called "values they try to force" (i.e. the political plans of the current government), so it seems they're not doing a great job of "forcing" those values if that's the plan.

They have enough problems keeping the people they currently have in the military on the same page. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-caf-charges-terrorism-... The general response to this was amazement that the MP or RCMP actually did anything about it, given what occurs within those.

[dead]

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#30

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #22
mmooss wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fear about Russia or China is unfounded. That dismisses the greatest security threats of the era with a word. Most people in that field think those threats are very well-founded. Should Canada take the risk that everything will be fine? I don't know much about Canada's current plans and how effective they would be.

Canada right now is trying to figure out if the greatest their to their security is China or the USA. They can tie their boat to either against the other, but they can't be allies with both.

Real question: Is any serious person advocating Canada abandon the West for China? What's their analysis here? If anyone has an article I can read I would love to do that.
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