Jonathan Kay on the funding of Canada's military, 1970-2007
Posted: December 14, 2007, 5:35 PM by Jonathan Kay
Who’s responsible for our underfunded military? A new analysis prepared by the Library of Parliament for Senator Colin Kenny suggests two names: Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien.
Mr. Kenny’s report, released this month, tabulates real per-capita defence spending from 1970 to the 2007. As the graph above shows, Pierre Trudeau, for all his peacenick posturing, boosted spending considerably. But it then plummeted under Messrs. Mulroney and Chrétien.
Paul Martin gave it a small boost. But Stephen Harper has been the real saviour: The one-year uptick from 2006 to 2007 is the largest on modern record.
A picture tells a thousand words, and the picture above shows that Mr. Harper has been a friend to our long-neglected armed forces. Let’s hope the pattern continues in 2008 and beyond.
jkay@nationalpost.com
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