Tman1 Tman1:
I voted Harper because of his promises of the military but it seems those are going down the drain.
Any news about the deep water port? Ice breakers? The arctic patrol (weren't those cancelled?) vessels? I think there were choppers in the mix there. Can we get things sooner? Not 50 years later when the objects are half-obsolete.
Can't now I suppose with the economy.
Well, they are supposed to start on the port soon, but the real icebreakers were cancelled, and replaced by the Arctic patrol vessels. How soon those will be built is anyone's guess, although given the track record of recent governments, I wouldn't expect them for another decade. So far, Harper has 'only' cancelled the JSS, three heavy icebreakers, and upgrades to our patrol aircraft. The navy helos will be delayed until 2010 (at least), but we're getting Chinooks this year (although these are used CH-47Ds, not new helos). The new Ch-47Fs won't be ready for a couple more years, as the line-up is pretty long right now.
Harper started out pretty good, and had he followed through on his defence promises, I would have voted for him in October. However, his defence policy since the summer of 2006 hasn't been any better than the Liberals was, so he lost it.