Canadian troops should not be buying own gear

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/06/2023 (1147 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CANADA’S soldiers, sailors and air-force personnel know all too well how frustrating the procurement of military equipment can be.

Delays, changes in orders and cancellations caused by changing political priorities are famous footnotes in Canadian history.

Among the most notable are the Avro Arrow jet fighter, which John Diefenbaker’s Progressive Conservatives famously scrapped in 1959, or the on-again, off-again and on-again replacement of Sea King helicopters that began in the 1980s and spanned 30 years, four prime ministers and hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties for cancelled orders.

A similar flip, flop and fly political process took place with the purchase of F-35 fighter jets to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force’s fleet of aging CF-18s. In 2010, the Conservatives under Stephen Harper proposed the purchase of 65 of the planes, but Justin Trudeau, running for election in 2015, vowed the Liberals would kill the deal.

It was put on hold when Mr. Trudeau became prime minister, but eventually returned when Ottawa decided to buy 88 of the F-35s in 2022.

The latest example that stains the federal government and burdens Canadian forces in the field involves far less expensive, but no less critical equipment.

More than 700 Canadian soldiers took part in recent NATO military exercises in Latvia and were ill-equipped to take part in war games, let alone actual war.

Many of them resorted to buying their own basic military essentials, such as rain gear, vests and belts that hold ammunition and water bottles, to be prepared for different battlefield conditions.

While the army provides its soldiers with helmets, the troops, who had been participating in live-fire artillery training, began purchasing their own helmets that are equipped with headsets and have built-in hearing protection, an equipment deficiency noted by army brass in 2019 and one that is the cause of a rising number of disability claims from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

None of these items is top-secret equipment; the soldiers bought the items from online retailers, and history shows their delivery is far speedier than the process Canada’s military uses, whether or not political interference is involved.

The worst surprise for Canada’s army at the Latvia exercises came when they met their Danish counterparts, who were using Canadian-made rifles that were equipped with Canadian-made sights, both of which were newer and more advanced than the weapons Canada’s troops were using — the same models they’ve been issued for the past three decades.

“In general, it was concerning verging on embarrassing to see the differences in issued soldier equipment between us and the Danes,” Lt.-Col. Jesse van Eijk, who commanded Canada’s battle group in Latvia, wrote in an email CBC News had obtained, adding the rifles were available for armies to purchase on the open market.

No one wants Canadian soldiers to have to use their military equipment in battle, but those same soldiers deserve to be properly equipped on missions abroad, such as the ongoing commitment to NATO operations in Latvia, peacekeeping missions in Haiti or while training at home. Canadians have asked them to serve, and they have stepped forward to do so: we should not then short-change them on modern and effective equipment, putting their health and even their lives at unnecessary risk.

Canada needs to keep up. Its military, and most importantly its politicians, need to throw away its procurement manual into the dustbin of history and act quicker for the needs of Canada’s troops.