Decision makers reluctant to make a decision for fear of armchair QBs. Procurement slowed unnecessarily because every department, every Oversight Committee, wants to be heard. A general reluctance to assign to a specific group or individual responsibility for a solution to an identified need, the review of options and potential providers — including the expectation of input *but not interference* from other groups because responsibility has been clearly assigned —, a decision/selection, and implementation. These and many related process weaknesses are clear signs of malfunctioning organizations. They are found, it myst be said, in the corporate as well as governmental world, but as we increasingly acknowledge the need for efficiency and action — 15 year deployment timeframes are clearly intolerable, now more than ever — we need strong hands and indomitable individuals to root out this disfunction and create responsive, effective, management.
I’m confident the Forces have the smart, educated, experienced individuals required to effect this transformation. They need only clear guidance and goals, and the backing to proceed. The transformation will draw considerable fire, toes will be stepped upon and fiefdoms disrupted, so those charged with this enormous change must know that the government — Parliament and its multitudinous committees — has their back.
Fiscal mismanagement when their only job is fiscal management. This is the direct result of the disinclination or perhaps inability to hold bureaucrats accountable.
For the past two decades at least, the federal government has staggered from crisis to crisis. How is it that using pens & paper, the federal government managed payments, salaries, pension, everything, through two world wars and now with massive amounts of technology and bloated bureaucracy, they can't set up a fucking payroll system (Phoenix).
Big tech and defense contractors laugh at inept bureaucrats signing contracts without defining needs, identifying benchmarks & goals, you name it. That runs top to bottom, not just DND.
Things were marginally better during the Harper years but not by much. I wasn't in a position to know before that but I expect the shit-show has been this bad since Pearson was PM.
For decades the Canadian Defense situation has been on my radar. Frustration doesn't describe it, more like shameful (sad to say)... not to mention lapsed dollars.
Canada is one of many in a waring world. History tells the story. ...
I have questions. Not in the details of this specific procurement and infrastructure nightmare, but at a higher Canadian identity, values and culture level.
I wonder if some of Canada’s mythology around being peaceful is having an impact. My understanding is that other levels of “law enforcement” don’t have this procurement problem, and are able to translate growing budgets into growing modern equipment and other infrastructure.
I wonder if that mythology might cause the average Canadian to not see the interconnected nature between what federal, provincial, municipal and other "law enforcement" does and what the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is asked to do. Each is asked to be “jack of all trades” for anything where carrying a gun is claimed to be required, the one-stop-shop for everything that no other specialized agency is created to do. They are asked to do everything from wellness checks to water purification, snow removal, etc. They are perceived as different in ways that don’t make sense to me, but part of that may be the artificial inside-outside borders aspects of the Western/European Westphalian system, where the CAF is incorrectly seen as primarily an outside-borders agency.
----
I am also frustrated by how much time is spent scrutinizing government spending, and not enough time on government income. Tax expenditures are never adequately scrutinized compared to other spending. There are also odd cultural barriers delaying the required taxation on wealth extraction (that money that is far beyond human “earning”) or resource extraction. Canada’s royalty rates for extraction are puny, a leftover from how the Dominion government was created in 1867 to “promote the Interests of the British Empire” – seemingly as a systemically cheap source of raw materials that would be detrimental to this continent.
It is inappropriate to be thinking of increasing taxes on personal income (that money that is reasonable for a human to be earning), and in fact the Basic Personal Amount should be being greatly increased (and refundable, as part of a larger GLI/UBI policy). It is also inappropriate to be increasing taxes on real estate property based on “market value assessment” like Ontario adopted, as this seems to encourage and amplify the effects of gentrification (which needs to be understood as serious societal harm).
"The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA Meeting 13 and HUMA Meeting 22) has heard heart-wrenching stories of military families living in poverty. The housing crisis on bases, combined with the frequent moves required of service members, has left many families relying on food banks."
A shameful list of multiple failures.
Decision makers reluctant to make a decision for fear of armchair QBs. Procurement slowed unnecessarily because every department, every Oversight Committee, wants to be heard. A general reluctance to assign to a specific group or individual responsibility for a solution to an identified need, the review of options and potential providers — including the expectation of input *but not interference* from other groups because responsibility has been clearly assigned —, a decision/selection, and implementation. These and many related process weaknesses are clear signs of malfunctioning organizations. They are found, it myst be said, in the corporate as well as governmental world, but as we increasingly acknowledge the need for efficiency and action — 15 year deployment timeframes are clearly intolerable, now more than ever — we need strong hands and indomitable individuals to root out this disfunction and create responsive, effective, management.
I’m confident the Forces have the smart, educated, experienced individuals required to effect this transformation. They need only clear guidance and goals, and the backing to proceed. The transformation will draw considerable fire, toes will be stepped upon and fiefdoms disrupted, so those charged with this enormous change must know that the government — Parliament and its multitudinous committees — has their back.
Fiscal mismanagement when their only job is fiscal management. This is the direct result of the disinclination or perhaps inability to hold bureaucrats accountable.
For the past two decades at least, the federal government has staggered from crisis to crisis. How is it that using pens & paper, the federal government managed payments, salaries, pension, everything, through two world wars and now with massive amounts of technology and bloated bureaucracy, they can't set up a fucking payroll system (Phoenix).
Big tech and defense contractors laugh at inept bureaucrats signing contracts without defining needs, identifying benchmarks & goals, you name it. That runs top to bottom, not just DND.
Things were marginally better during the Harper years but not by much. I wasn't in a position to know before that but I expect the shit-show has been this bad since Pearson was PM.
For decades the Canadian Defense situation has been on my radar. Frustration doesn't describe it, more like shameful (sad to say)... not to mention lapsed dollars.
Canada is one of many in a waring world. History tells the story. ...
I have questions. Not in the details of this specific procurement and infrastructure nightmare, but at a higher Canadian identity, values and culture level.
I wonder if some of Canada’s mythology around being peaceful is having an impact. My understanding is that other levels of “law enforcement” don’t have this procurement problem, and are able to translate growing budgets into growing modern equipment and other infrastructure.
I wonder if that mythology might cause the average Canadian to not see the interconnected nature between what federal, provincial, municipal and other "law enforcement" does and what the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is asked to do. Each is asked to be “jack of all trades” for anything where carrying a gun is claimed to be required, the one-stop-shop for everything that no other specialized agency is created to do. They are asked to do everything from wellness checks to water purification, snow removal, etc. They are perceived as different in ways that don’t make sense to me, but part of that may be the artificial inside-outside borders aspects of the Western/European Westphalian system, where the CAF is incorrectly seen as primarily an outside-borders agency.
----
I am also frustrated by how much time is spent scrutinizing government spending, and not enough time on government income. Tax expenditures are never adequately scrutinized compared to other spending. There are also odd cultural barriers delaying the required taxation on wealth extraction (that money that is far beyond human “earning”) or resource extraction. Canada’s royalty rates for extraction are puny, a leftover from how the Dominion government was created in 1867 to “promote the Interests of the British Empire” – seemingly as a systemically cheap source of raw materials that would be detrimental to this continent.
It is inappropriate to be thinking of increasing taxes on personal income (that money that is reasonable for a human to be earning), and in fact the Basic Personal Amount should be being greatly increased (and refundable, as part of a larger GLI/UBI policy). It is also inappropriate to be increasing taxes on real estate property based on “market value assessment” like Ontario adopted, as this seems to encourage and amplify the effects of gentrification (which needs to be understood as serious societal harm).
"The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA Meeting 13 and HUMA Meeting 22) has heard heart-wrenching stories of military families living in poverty. The housing crisis on bases, combined with the frequent moves required of service members, has left many families relying on food banks."