Ottawa — Defence Minister John McCallum has drawn up plans to cut almost $100-million at military headquarters in Ottawa while putting a new focus on the army — favouring it in new spending over the navy and air force.
Mr. McCallum's plans include a proposal to spend $600-million to buy new armoured vehicles for the army and a possible boost in the number of soldiers.
A bigger army would help Canada meet the greatest demand on its military: international missions like the ones soldiers currently are part of in Afghanistan and Bosnia. The proposal for new armoured vehicles comes as the military is being criticized over the deaths of two soldiers whose unprotected Iltis jeep hit a land mine in Afghanistan.
Mr. McCallum is acting on a new report that calls on the Department of National Defence to reduce spending and personnel in Ottawa and reinvest the money in "combat capability."
Troops reveice thanks Tuesday for raising about $9,000 money for the families of two soldiers killed by a mine in Kabul. (Brian Walsh/CP)
The hard-hitting report by administration experts will be made public today when Mr. McCallum addresses the Canadian Defence Industries Association in Ottawa. The speech is called Embracing Reallocation, Embracing Change.
According to a copy of the report obtained by The Globe and Mail, DND has too many areas "where clear inefficiencies exist and have gone unchecked, or where identified opportunities to improve efficiency were not implemented."
In an interview yesterday, Mr. McCallum promised to cut the fat at headquarters and put the savings into modern equipment for his troops. Money from the savings will be in addition to an $800-million increase in his department's annual budget obtained this year, which he said will be used to transform the Canadian Forces for the long term, with a focus on building up the army.
"When Canada wants to project itself overseas, the army is critical. I'm not saying the [air force and the navy] are not important, but the army is critical for the projecting of our values overseas," he said.
Mr. McCallum will seek cabinet approval next week for a plan to buy $600-million in new armoured vehicles for the land forces. The cost is not included in the current military budget, and would be covered in future years. Part of the funds could come from money now dedicated to Canada's Cold-War-era tanks, which are being phased out.
The mobile gun system, which is an eight-wheeled vehicle with a 105 mm gun, is similar to the Strykers being purchased by the U.S. military, and the LAVIII and Coyotes used by the Canadian military.
The purchase would be part of Mr. McCallum's strategy to reallocate spending to high-priority areas, including modernization of the army.
He said his two other priorities are replacing the 40-year-old Sea King helicopters as soon as possible, and increasing the military's airlift capacity. He said Canada will "likely" acquire more Hercules cargo aircraft in the medium term, after he rejected the air force's bid to buy much bigger and more expensive Boeing C-17s.
Mr. McCallum said that to achieve his goals, he has to transform DND's administrative structure. He wants to break away from the traditional bottom-up approach where the army, the navy and the air force divide up resources by consensus.
Instead, Mr. McCallum is planning to adopt a more top-down approach. Currently, all ideas come from all levels of the organization, senior officials consider them and then the minister decides which to implement. Under the new system, high-level officials will decide what projects are undertaken and senior DND leaders will focus on a smaller number of long-term goals laid out in a new 15-year acquisition plan.
"Under the old system, there must have been many frustrated people working on projects with a chance of fruition that was low," Mr. McCallum said.
The minister is a former economist with the Royal Bank of Canada who was thrown into the Defence portfolio 18 months ago. He commissioned a small committee of outsiders at the time to find administrative efficiencies at DND.
Their final report criticizes the department's culture of "transactional" decision-making by an "extensive network of committees," saying it inhibits any attempts at major change.
The report calls for cutbacks of almost $100-million on travel, consulting fees and information technology, and proposes changes in the procurement system. Overall, Mr. McCallum said his department has found $130-million in administrative savings in the past year.
He said a committee will be put into place to implement the report's recommendations over the coming years.
In addition, the government will eventually review its defence policy, which will likely reinforce Mr. McCallum's commitment to a strong army within the Canadian Forces.
Mr. McCallum said a key question will be the number of soldiers the military needs to achieve its goals. He said the Forces might need more soldiers, which would allow Canada to participate in more international missions. Currently, Canada has 20,000, down from a high of 50,000 in the 1960s.
"I want to have a higher number of deployable people, in a sustainable, humane way. One option would be to have a bigger army, and I think we should look at that."
The Forces also will need more skilled professionals, such as doctors and engineers. Currently, specialized personnel are frequently required on Canadian missions overseas.
Canada is one of the Western countries with the highest proportion of soldiers serving overseas, but the Forces will need a long break after the end of missions in Bosnia and Afghanistan next year.
