A stark warning from Canada’s top military brass that the Canadian Armed Forces are not ready to operate in an increasingly dangerous world will the warnings from these Admirals and Generals change the government’s Direction on defense spending I’m Mercedes Stevenson the West block begins now Ottawa announces A10 billion deal to
Replace its aging Aurora surveillance aircraft it’s bit of good news at a time when the military is stretched to the Limit with personnel and equipment I speak to defense minister Bill Blair about the push to turn things around plus is retirement a pipe dream for the Next Generation how long will
You have to work before you can enjoy your golden Gears the federal government made it official last week it’s replacing its aging Aurora Patrol Fleet with Boeing’s p8a posidon aircraft the auroras have played a critical role in Canadian intelligence gathering for example they were used to identify Isis Targets in Iraq and they’re the same aircraft that the Chinese military has been aggressively
Intercepting over the Pacific the deal for the new planes will cost just over $10 billion with the first of the 14 aircraft expected to arrive in 2026 the announcement comes as the military continues to juggle multiple challenges from aging equipment to Major recruitment shortfalls that message hit
Home this week in a viral YouTube video that was made by the top commander of the Royal Canadian Navy the RCN faces some very serious challenges right now that could mean we fail to meet our Force Foster r as commitments in 2024 and Beyond the RCN is in a critical
State with many occupations experiencing shortages at 20% and higher to talk about the challenges and solutions hopefully facing the Canadian military I’m joined by defense minister Bill Blair welcome to the program Minister Blair Thank you very much good morning Mercedes that was a pretty striking video by Admiral topi it’s not
Often that we hear senior generals or senior Admirals come out and be that Stark in their assessment that that they may not be able to defend the country they may not be able to meet their goals what did you make of admiral toi’s video and and do you agree with his
Assessment well first of all I work very closely with Admiral toi and with with General a the chief of Defense staff General Kenny in charge of our Air Force and and general PA in charge of the army and and I think it’s important that we we have among each other with each other
But also with Canadians candidates Stark and and and Frank conversations about what is required in order for them to to uh complete the mission of of of keeping Canada safe and also to living up to our very significant International commitments to to Nato to NORAD and and
In the Indo indopacific now we ask a great deal of the Canadian Armed Forces and and I think for a number and I don’t want to sort of sort of relitigate the past but I think for a very long time U we we did not make the necessary
Investments in the platforms first of all that our military works on the the combat the surface combatant ships that Admiral toi refers to the p8 our our multimission aircraft that the Air Force was able to acquire yesterday and some of the some of the basic equipment of of of
Tanks and and artillery and ammunition that the Army needs all of these things require significant new Investments Minister you you acknowledged that we’re we’re living in a more dangerous world we are watching uh aggression from China we are watching the war in the Middle East we are watching Russia’s war in
Ukraine a and yes you are replacing some platforms but they are all platforms that were flagged as in need of replacement at least 8 years ago when your government took over at the same time we’re facing dire shortages I’ve spoken to a number of senior commanders
And and in fact General Wayne a said this at committee if there was a war we only have three days worth of ammunition we’re required to have 30 by NATO we don’t have anywhere near that we’re 27 days short why has your government allowed the critical shortfall of
Ammunition and other materials that are required to defend Canada yeah well let let me be really clear one of the jobs the Prime Minister has given me is to to try to untie some of the knots of of military procurement to to actually work with the IED Minister and with our
Procurement Minister um to to to create you know a better supply chain of ammunition and to make sure that that we can actually affect those Acquisitions in a timely way we’ve also been challenged and I think General a would acknowledge this because we’ve also made very significant commitments not just us
But all of our NATO partners and and allies in supporting Ukraine and its fight against Russia and that’s taken some of that Supply off but but but I don’t disagree with you at all and and it’s and it’s something that when I took over this position I sat down with the
Chief of defense and the deputy minister of of of of the National Defense and and we’ve been working on what have been their challenges in acquiring the ammunition and and some of it is is resource but an awful lot of is this process and so making that process work
More effectively and get securing those Supply chains is a critical part of what we have to do I I hear you on Ukraine and and the material has been given on ammunition but other countries have bought this in fact other countries are spending much more than Canada is they’re increasing their defense
Spending Canada is making cuts to the defense budget which I know your government says aren’t Cuts but the definition of cuts is usually when you take money out and you don’t put it back in which is effectively what is happening why in light of acknowledging the shortage of Personnel in the
Dangerous world that we live in are you not spending more well and and and let me just sort of articulate that because I don’t think You’ quite captured exactly what we’re doing with defense spending in 2017 we we brought forward a plan strong secure and engaged to
Increase defense spending by 70% over an 8year period we’re six years into that and we’re right on track defense spending has actually gone up but you’re at 1.23% which is well below the 2% NATO Target and and but we’re moving forward the the what I the point I want to make
Is we’re putting significantly new resources in but we also acknowledge because the world was changing and particularly after the invasion of Ukraine the increasingly aggressive posture taken on by both Russia and China and and the obligations in the indo-pacific in our in our own Arctic and of course in NATO we recognize that
We have to continue to invest even more more than we said in in strong secure and engaged in 2017 and that’s and that’s why we have brought forward um a plan that’s very much in discussion right now in within our government about making new significant new Investments I
I I hope I’ve made it very clear um publicly that we recognize we must do more we’re going to do more but there’s also some context in in in the doing that more because there is a fiscal situation in Canada that I have I have to be realistic about what can be
Achieved we’re spending taxpayers dollars Mercedes and I’ve always tried to be very careful when we do that so one of the things I was asked to do by treasury board is to to take a look at how we administer some of our processes and in how in in in our financial
Administration um in in our Human Resources Administration in consulting services and Professional Services and executive travel and a broad range of things that over time bureaucracies tend to become bureaucratic and I think there there is always a need for people like myself to go in make sure that we are
Being as efficient as possible in delivering the defense capabilities the calf needs and the country needs so then why not take that money and put it back into the operations and maintenance budget well first of all I’m we we we have a significant budget for maintenance and for operations but it’s
A shortfall from what we need according to all these senior generals and Admirals who are saying that they they don’t have what they need to to do what’s required well let’s on if if you don’t but but let’s not mix up apples and oranges there there’s a fairly significant expenditure of of administra
In in administration and my job is to make sure that we do that as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible and at the same time there’s a very significant portion of that budget which is dedicated to that maintenance and that Supply last year the Canadian Armed
Forces was was unable to spend over two billion of their budget and it’s because their Pro the processes of proc of procurement um are not as efficient as they need to be and so it’s it’s not a matter of us not giving them enough resources it’s it’s a matter of of of
Making sure that those processes work for them so that they’re able to do that maintenance they’re able to acquire that ammunition they’re able to to make the Investments that they need to make and then most importantly is solving this deficit of people because the real strength of the Canadian Armed Forces is
The men and women who serve in it speaking of investments in in platforms and Technologies in February uh of this year I spoke to minister Anand when she was the defense minister and we were talking about the tank tanks that Canada sent to Ukraine she told me it was top
Of her priority list basically to get to work on replacing those tanks and as you know there’s a very large number of Canadian tanks in in ltia right now as well what’s the status of the replacement project for the tanks I I haven’t seen anything come out about it
I haven’t seen it go to Tender has your government started the process of replacing them we’re well in way of course we’ve identified you know all of our requirements with with respect to those tanks we know what we want the leopard tank and and and and we’ve we’ve
Got we’re also making investments in maintaining the ones we’ve got but we do know we need more uh the procurement processes as I’ve already mentioned to you Mercedes first of all I don’t talk too much about where we’re at in particular processes because I want to
Make sure that I don’t do anything that interferes with with those contracts but at the same time what what I’m finding is and and I I think you’re you’re aware of this and most Canadians are some of these procurement contracts take an incredibly long time to execute and and
The time between when the Canadian Armed Force defines the need and we’re when we’re actually be able to get them in the door it it it takes sometimes an inord amount of time and unacceptable amount of time so it’s it’s we’re trying not only to manage the cost but to to also manage
The time that it takes to deliver them that again is is is one of my responsibilities um I’m working with some of the best people I know in government and in the Canadian Armed Forces to as I say untie some of these knots I I I was very pleased yesterday
We were able to we we heard very clearly from the the RO can Air Force about what it needed in a multi Mission aircraft to replace the cp40 the auroras they identified their requirements and and we determined that the only plane that ex that currently was available and that
That met all of those requirements was the p8 and although it was a procurement not without its challenges I was very very pleased to be able to to to announce to the Canadian Armed Forces and to the Royal Canadian Air Force that we were able to acquire those planes for
Them and that they were going to be getting them within the next two years before those the the CP 140s age out of out out of service and so that’s our responsibility is to get jobs like that done and and and I was very pleased that
Yesterday we were able I hope we were able to send a signal about our commitment to deliver for the Canadian Armed Forces we’re going to continue to deliver for them because they deliver for us thank you very much for joining us today Minister and uh good luck with
I’m sure what is a a difficult job ahead of you no it’s the best job in government thanks very much Mercedes um next is Freedom 55 now a pipe dream we dig into a new report that reveals many Canadians aren’t ready for Retirement with numbers out last week that the economy is slowing and unemployment is up thinking about retirement feels like a pipe dream for a lot of us right now and that’s backed up by a new report that found the majority of people near retirement age are not financially ready to leave the workforce
Only 14% are retirement ready 31% will need to rely on public income like CPP and old AG security about 55% will have to make lifestyle cuts to avoid outliving their own savings and a staggering 73% will face financial hardship if they require long-term care and for young Canadians who are
Struggling to afford a home and find jobs is retirement even a possibility to talk about all of this I’m joined by Paul Kershaw the founder of generation squeeze and a professor at ubc’s school of population and public health and Laura tamblin Watts the CEO of can AG a national seniors advocacy organization
Good morning to both of you um not the cheeriest of topics but an important one we you know we were talking about this around the office and just saying whether you’re at the end of your career and thinking about reti reing or recently retired and wondering if you
Can afford to stay there or for some of the younger people who work in our Bureau wondering if they’re ever going to be able to retire it’s not a particularly Rosy and and optimistic Outlook Paul can you start us off with giving us a a a sense of where this is
Going and how worried we should be well I think that there are two themes that we need to be aware of on the one hand for a younger demographic I do increasingly worry about the pressures that they will face later on in their aspirations to retire because the
Reality is that for Young Folks today hard work doesn’t pay off like it used to they will go to post-secondary more pay more for the privilege to land jobs that actually uh often are paying less um after adjusting for inflation and then we all know they’re facing dramatically higher housing prices that
Increasingly lock them out of ownership and their consolation prize is lousy Rising rents and all of that means it’s so much harder to save for retirement down the road and on top of that then we have to think about today’s aging population these are our family members
As my mom my in-laws Etc and for that demographic the data are somewhat positive that they have some of the lowest rates of poverty in the country the most wealth a good amount of housing security but decades ago our governments kind of let them and let us down because
We didn’t work out how to pay effectively for a healthy retirement for an aging demographic driven by the baby boom and if I can just add one more observation for your your listeners you know back in the day when Baby Boomers were young adults there were seven
Working age residents to pay for every retiree now Boomers have every reason to expect I want the same if not better benefits but there are just three working age residents to pay for every things are more expensive people are living longer especially women uh often outlive and make less while they’re
Working than men um what is the scenario right now for senior Canadians well it’s not as rosy as we would wish you know I know that the way that we calculate how people are doing in terms of poverty index and so on is there and with those numbers older adults on the
Whole look like they’re doing pretty well but the reality of the circumstance is we me me the wrong stuff and what that means is the measurements are based on a family of four in kind of their middle years and the basket of goods and services that we count are not usually
The basket of good and services that seniors need so care the cost of care home care care provision all of that is not in the basket of goods when we’re thinking about what we need as older people including medications and so on that are not covered those are also not
In the basket of goods and what it means as well is that not only we’re counting the wrong stuff that they were becoming much more expensive at a time when debt was cheap so many older people are very much in debt boomers are the most indebted generation we’ve ever had
Some of them are retiring with student jbt let alone Mortgage Debt so they’ve acred a lot of debt but their money didn’t make much because interest rates were historically no now the cost of debt has gone up and their cost of living has gone up and often they’re not
Being able to make as much money in the door so it is actually a very poor situation Paul what happens for the younger generation and and I see this with with a lot of my friends um delay having children you know you’re you’re establishing your career it’s expensive
You’re waiting until later and now you’re in a scenario where you are both caring for potentially young children or having to pay for child care and at the same time worrying about aging parents who may also require care or longterm uh it seems like a tremendous financial
Burden and where does the money come from just to get by dayto day when you’re dealing with those competing F not competing you know what I mean but family members at opposite ends of their life spectrum that that both require a lot of care and a lot of money yeah it’s
The right question and I love so much how you corrected like it’s competing it’s actually what we have I think is a lot of love and there’s a lot of solidarity between older and younger family members and how to work it out so that not only do we make our families
Work for all generations but we need to make our country and our government budgets work for all generations and I’m I’m on board with Laura saying we often aren’t right now measuring the right things um and I am sympathetic to the fact that many people right now might be
Having more debt in retirement but we need to need to put that in context that debt will often be in the context of one’s housing and um well there has been a little bit of a trickle up in the number of Boomers who are retiring with Mortgage Debt typically that’s because
They have been refinancing homes and purchasing additional hes because they are making a great deal of wealth coming from the housing system and so I think Laura is right when we measure how people are doing we need to move Beyond income and think increasingly about
Wealth because you can be a widow with a low income of say around $25,000 a year and that will be akin to like just above the poverty lining just above getting the guaranteed income supplement in this country and we might think that that individual is really financially
Struggling and if they’re a renter they absolutely are but if they’re a homeowner in halifa in Halifax or Hamilton or Victoria or Vancouver or Toronto they might be people whose homes that they own outright are worth a million if not many millions more and so that’s fundamentally different than say you
Might think a young a young lawyer making 250,000 they’re the top earners in the country but in some instances they can barely afford to rent a two-bedroom place and so we need to more and more be thinking about how do we measure affluence in this country how do
We measure our ability to contribute to the services we need in retirement and the services we need like Child Care like post-secondary like affordable housing we have to really come to terms with how what we want how we are going to pay for what we want and ensure that
We’re not leaving large unpaid government bills via deficits for our kids and grandchildren Laura what is happening for people who are are retiring now I’ve heard some people contemplating that they they may have to come back to work because the amount they say that they thought would be enough now
Now isn’t enough are you seeing a lot of that or is that more a fear than something that’s actually manifesting oh no we’re completely changing it and actually that’s okay to change it as long as we’re talking about people who are economically secure and increasingly were not what it means is that people
Not only are living longer they also need to work longer they the idea of retirement at 65 came out of a time where people died at 67 that’s that’s actually when we created our CPP it was only expected that you would live two years and then you would die now we’re
Looking at a third of our life it won’t be surprising for anyone to say that people need more money and they need more security and there are some barriers that we need to call out one of the biggest barriers for people who want to stay in the workforce longer even
Though we are in the biggest labor crunch we’ve ever had in Canada you know agism is playing a huge role and so folks are having a hard time getting back into the the Working World the paid working world and then we also have these additional layers of complexity
Around things like the fact is most Caregivers for older people are other older people it’s not actually the generations below and so they’re trying to figure out how they can balance providing free care for spouses friends or even you know parents in their 90s well at the same time they don’t have
The accumulated wealth that they need to the last piece I just wanted to share is there’s a Str structural problem around housing too quite right yes many people have accumulated wealth or equity in their house but we don’t actually have places for them to go to that are
Age-friendly and accessible and so most rental places are not appropriate for older people they’re not easily able to downsize and stay in their communities many of them if they’re going to sell are going to have to move far outside of the area that they are into somethings
Much more remote more challenging to get the services and and health care that they need where Transportation becomes a huge issue so again it’s not just about the cost of housing it’s about the cost of including people in communities and we’re failing in that certainly big questions ahead about what that looks
Like and uh I’m sure whether or not those in my generation and younger will ever be able to retire Paul and Laura thank you both very much for joining us I’m sure we’ll be talking about this again soon because uh it is an issue that quite literally affects everyone thank you
Up next serious misconduct allegations leveled against Canada’s spy [Applause] [Applause] agency now for one last thing last week yet another powerful National Security Organization faced serious allegations of sexual misconduct and a toxic workplace culture whistleblowers from Canada’s spy agency cus told the Canadian press that the British Columbia office of cus was a quote dark and disturbing place the allegations
Included harassment and rape it’s not the first time we’ve heard concerns about CIS during the global pandemic Global News reported on allegations of toxic workplace culture racism and harassment by senior managers as well as a demoralized staff those who work in National Security are vital to this
Country and they make a lot of sacrifices yet rooting out sexual misconduct and ensuring oversight of powerful and shadowy organizations seems to be an ongoing challenge those who defend the country deserve better and here at the West block we have more reporting to come in coming weeks on
This subject to hold those organizations accountable that’s our show for today we’ll see you next Sunday
The federal government is facing heat for its sole-sourced contract with Boeing to replace Canada’s aging Aurora aircraft patrol fleet.
This comes as the Royal Canadian Navy’s top commander released a video saying their was a naval recruitment shortfall.
‘The West Block’ host Mercedes Stephenson speaks to Defence Minister Bill Blair about military procurement, ammunition shortages, defence spending, and more.
Plus, a new report from Deloitte Canada shows that the majority of near-retirees are not ready for retirement. Stephenson is joined by Generation Squeeze’s Paul Kershaw and CanAge’s Laura Tamblyn Watts to discuss Canada’s looming retirement crisis, how younger and older Canadians are struggling, and more.
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The expertise you share in this video is incredibly rewarding. Thank you!??