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Oh, and on top of its exciting new sewers, HMCS York will have a retaining wall repaired

One could be forgiven for taking that to mean airfields, new barracks or air defence radars. No such luck. Instead, the Canadian Forces College will receive new HVAC systems — that’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning, not some high-tech weapons system, by the way — while the Denison Armoury and family centre will also get HVAC upgrades. Moss Park and Fort York will receive various “interior and exterior” renovations.

Oh, and on top of its exciting new sewers, HMCS York will have a retaining wall repaired.

We don’t begrudge the money being spent. The problem is the fanfare. The projects being announced here aren’t significant investments in national defence, they’re basic upkeep. Working sewers, functional HVAC systems and sturdy retaining walls, not to mention modern training facilities and liveble on-base housing, ought to be something our troops can expect.

It’s all the more maddening because of how many high-profile procurements of truly defence-related items — trucks, helicopters, jets, warships — the government has bungled. Canada’s military, despite some vital (and endlessly trumpeted) acquisitions during the Afghan war, urgently needs modernized equipment and weapons of all kinds. But the projects have been stalled by incompetence, delayed for budgetary reasons or simply mismanaged into bureaucratic oblivion. Meanwhile, our military is being asked to do more, with ever less, all over the world. The latest debacle: the government is looking into converting a civilian ship into a supply vessel for the Navy after our two elderly supply ships rusted out without replacements.

It’s maddening, and it has to stop. Rather than patting himself on the back for delivering literally the bare minimum the military can ask for, Fantino should set his eyes on actually getting our troops the equipment they need to do all the nation asks of them.

National Post