Icebreakers, fighter jets, helicopters and armoured vehicles: no other department spends quite like the Department of National Defence.
Tory times have been good times for Canada's defence budget. When the Conservatives won power in January, 2006, Canada's total defence spending stood at $14.7-billion a year. It's now more than $21-billion, a 44 per cent increase. The Afghan mission is partly behind the higher costs, but the government has also made long-term commitments to upgrade the equipment of the Canadian Forces.
But with the Afghan mission winding down and the government's focus shifting to balancing the books over the medium term, these big hikes in defence spending are coming to an end.
In a briefing this week, a senior government official told journalists that starting in 2011, the government will look for savings by scaling back the rate of growth in program spending. The official indicated that while health care and education transfers to the provinces will be exempt, defence spending will not.
No one expects defence items will be cut in next week's budget, but observers do predict that some of the more expensive purchases the government had planned for the coming years could be delayed. The Defence Department has an annual budget of $2.3-billion for capital expenditures and $2.4-billion for maintenance and upgrades.
This is a sample of some of the high-profile projects the government is working on for the coming years, highlighting a number of tough decisions that will need to be made.
Next-generation fighter planes: As part of a project worth more than $4-billion, Canada's fleet of CF-18s will need to be replaced within the next decade, and the government is being asked to choose a replacement aircraft in the near future. The government is participating with the United States in a program overseen by Lockheed Martin to design a new strike fighter, but proponents of the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Boeing Super Hornet are trying to entice Ottawa to go for their planes. — Private Pierre Theriault, Imaging Section, 3 Air Maintenance Squadron, 3 Wing Bagotville
Search-and-rescue planes: Ottawa has been talking for years about spending $3-billion for new planes to conduct search-and-rescue operations all over the country. The job is currently handled by aging Buffaloes and large Hercules, and the government will face domestic pressure over concerns that the current fleet won't be up to the job.
Land-combat vehicles: DND is working on a $5-billion plan to upgrade its light armoured vehicles (LAV IIIs) and select a new generation of close combat vehicles (CCVs). The project has been on again/off again, with the government having to decide whether to pay for the development costs of a new fleet of CCVs for future ground military operations. — Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Supply ships: A $3-billion project to buy three new vessels to bring supplies, including fuel, to naval task forces was announced in 2006, and has yet to get launched. Odds are the government can buy only two ships if it wants to stay within budget, and it might have to ditch its plan for fully equipped, multitasking vessels. Still, the project benefits from the fact that the ships could be built in Canada, and thus contribute to the country's economic recovery. — Master Cpl. Brian Walsh/CP
Arctic offshore patrol ships: The government has promised to buy six to eight vessels, at a cost of $3.1-billion, to navigate year-round in the North's icy waters. The plan is a key element of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's campaign in support of Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic, which makes it hard to axe, but the ships are expensive, with an estimated cost of $4.3-billion to operate over 25 years. — CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Operation and maintenance: In addition to buying new gear, the Canadian Forces spend a lot of money every year upgrading, maintaining and operating their equipment. The decades-old Sea King helicopters are high-maintenance aircraft, for example, and the government could cut back on the use of its equipment in times of fiscal restraint. — MARCEL MOCHET/AFP/Getty Images
