EDITORIAL: More defence dollars go down the drain

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The Canadian Armed Forces have a long and storied history of service to this country. Our soldiers, sailors and aircrew have punched above their weight in two world wars, in Korea and peacekeeping missions around the world.

Sadly, there’s also a long and storied history of government bungling when it comes to procuring equipment for those men and women who put their lives on the line in defence of this nation.

We nickel and dime them with purchases such as the one that bought us four unseaworthy submarines from the U.K. Our forces in Latvia have been forced to buy their own helmets and rain gear.

Meanwhile, bureaucrats have spent our precious defence budget on puzzling supplies. Last year, they placed menstrual products such as tampons in the men’s washrooms.

Recent reports suggest we can’t even get decent cold-weather sleeping bags for our military personnel. According to a CBC report, the Department of National Defence spent almost $35 million on sleeping bags that failed to keep members of the military warm on a deployment where temperatures dipped between -5C and -20C.

The CBC quotes an internal briefing note from the quartermaster of the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry, who said the sleeping bags were “better suited for use in weather conditions that are characteristic of late spring to early fall.” They were not practical “for typical Canadian winter conditions nor the extreme cold of Alaska” where they were deployed.

Arctic warfare is a key element of defence for this country. It’s embarrassing that we can’t even get the sleeping bags right. Our beleaguered troops asked to be reissued with an older vintage sleeping bag which did hold up in sub-zero temperatures.

The latest report of questionable DND spending includes $32,250 for a report looking at space exploration from an intersectional and feminist viewpoint. It concluded existing approaches to space have “patterns of entrenched gender, racial and geopolitical dominance,” according to a story by Toronto Sun reporter Bryan Passifiume.

As a nation, we’re defence laggards, not living up to our commitment to spend 2% of the Gross Domestic Product on defence. The money we spend goes down the drain on tampons and intersectional studies.

The brave men and women on the front lines deserve better.