It strikes me that the DIA ministerial authority is closely reminiscent of the sort of vast powers and centralized authority that was used in wartime to organize national defense and implement sweeping changes to the economy to achieve national war aims. This is the sort of power structure that I had imagined we would see if actions were to match rhetoric about essentially an all-of-government crash program to reinitiate a defense industrial base and permit us to begin to significantly reduce our dependence on the US defense industrial sector.
I expect there will be a lot of refinement to this office and ministry in the coming years, but this legislation shows me that there is an intention to fundamentally reshape how defense procurement and national security industrial policy works in this country. It matches the rhetoric.
This is the legislation you present if you are trying to build the mobilization economy, for bettwr or worse in some regards, whats set out here is not in isolation, and if one can see some of the riting on the wall, they will understand what the federals are thinking.
Just that this time the Department of Munitions and Supply is being looked at as a preemptive over a reactive measure, to an extent
For decades DND was used as the whipping boy. A relatively big budget, yet placed at near the bottom of the cabinet pecking order, where it could be hidden as a useful reservoir of discretionary funding (used to boost other departments or to reduce the deficit, as required). One only had to ask a question, force DND to back to Treasury Board to explain why this T wasn’t crossed or that i wasn’t dotted and presto, DND couldn’t spend its budget again (to be used for electioneering carrots or another pet department’s project). This assessment places it on top as a huge behemoth. Certainly not the authority I’d want to give the current premiere of Alberta, but for the next decade or so, given the dire straights successive governments have permitted the CAF to fall, it will take these CD Howe powers, drive and leadership to boot the forces to a position of credibility such that our level of deterrence will be undeniable among both allies, on whom we will still depend, and our adversaries.
Yes but do we get " 1939 -C.D. Howe and the dollar-a-year men " or " 1914 -Sam Hughes the Shell Committee and Imperial Munitions Board " ? it will make a massive difference . Either way we will get the " pre war/ early war " version which means waste and costly mistakes will be early and often . Guess that part cant be avoided , growing pains and all the good jazz .
So i just posted this to a reply above yours , then scrolled down and seen yours and its dam near fitting . So my apologies to any one who is reading this twice :
Yes but do we get " 1939 -C.D. Howe and the dollar-a-year men " or " 1914 -Sam Hughes the Shell Committee and Imperial Munitions Board " ? it will make a massive difference . Either way we will get the " pre war/ early war " version which means waste and costly mistakes will be early and often . Guess that part cant be avoided , growing pains and all the good jazz .
Holy shmoley batman! That is quite the act! I feel like a character in a comic book talking about the plot mcguffin, "it's too dangerous, if bad guy X gets their hands on it, we will all be DOOOOOMED!"
And that's what worries me most. I'm sure the people in charge think that they will put limits on it, add the necessary checks and balances, before it's passed on to who ever ends up following their act, but political change some times happens faster than anyone anticipates, and sometimes important and necessary things can be put off and deferred too long, and things that were meant to temporary measures become the new normal, and the world is never the same. You only need to look south of the boarder for a perfect example of this. Many traditional conservatives in the GOP thought that they were using trump to get their way a little longer, and are now finding themselves sidelined and even persecuted for suggesting that long held conservative principles are more important than paying lip service to Trump.
And that's assuming that the people being given all this power right now use it as well as can be hoped for. While I'm willing to give them the benefit. Of the doubt right now, they are going to make mistakes, there is going to be people and groups that benefit from the status quo, and are going to try and spoke their wheel, both by opposing their efforts, and by trying to turn the public against them. And there is plenty in the act to cause reasonable people concern, let alone the public at large, which rarely looks below surface arguments. There are some big risks here, and I really hope the people at the top are making good preparations for these contingencies. Because if they are caught out, it could blow up in all of our faces, and we end up worse off than we started.
That all said, I also feel encouraged that they are obviously willing to go all in on dramatic change. Go fishing with dynamite, you might say. Things need to change, and there isn't time for incremental change anymore. There is no fixing some parts of the procurement system, they need to be ripped out and something new built in its place. And that is not a "nice" process, and some relative innocents are going to be hurt, collateral damage is going to happen. Hopefully we don't loose anything we will later on regret...
Holy shmoley batman! That is quite the act! I feel like a character in a comic book talking about the plot mcguffin, "it's too dangerous, if bad guy X gets their hands on it, we will all be DOOOOOMED!"
And that's what worries me most. I'm sure the people in charge think that they will put limits on it, add the necessary checks and balances, before it's passed on to who ever ends up following their act, but political change some times happens faster than anyone anticipates, and sometimes important and necessary things can be put off and deferred too long, and things that were meant to temporary measures become the new normal, and the world is never the same. You only need to look south of the boarder for a perfect example of this. Many traditional conservatives in the GOP thought that they were using trump to get their way a little longer, and are now finding themselves sidelined and even persecuted for suggesting that long held conservative principles are more important than paying lip service to Trump.
And that's assuming that the people being given all this power right now use it as well as can be hoped for. While I'm willing to give them the benefit. Of the doubt right now, they are going to make mistakes, there is going to be people and groups that benefit from the status quo, and are going to try and spoke their wheel, both by opposing their efforts, and by trying to turn the public against them. And there is plenty in the act to cause reasonable people concern, let alone the public at large, which rarely looks below surface arguments. There are some big risks here, and I really hope the people at the top are making good preparations for these contingencies. Because if they are caught out, it could blow up in all of our faces, and we end up worse off than we started.
That all said, I also feel encouraged that they are obviously willing to go all in on dramatic change. Go fishing with dynamite, you might say. Things need to change, and there isn't time for incremental change anymore. There is no fixing some parts of the procurement system, they need to be ripped out and something new built in its place. And that is not a "nice" process, and some relative innocents are going to be hurt, collateral damage is going to happen. Hopefully we don't loose anything we will later on regret...
Holy shmoley batman! That is quite the act! I feel like a character in a comic book talking about the plot mcguffin, "it's too dangerous, if bad guy X gets their hands on it, we will all be DOOOOOMED!"
And that's what worries me most. I'm sure the people in charge think that they will put limits on it, add the necessary checks and balances, before it's passed on to who ever ends up following their act, but political change some times happens faster than anyone anticipates, and sometimes important and necessary things can be put off and deferred too long, and things that were meant to temporary measures become the new normal, and the world is never the same. You only need to look south of the boarder for a perfect example of this. Many traditional conservatives in the GOP thought that they were using trump to get their way a little longer, and are now finding themselves sidelined and even persecuted for suggesting that long held conservative principles are more important than paying lip service to Trump.
And that's assuming that the people being given all this power right now use it as well as can be hoped for. While I'm willing to give them the benefit. Of the doubt right now, they are going to make mistakes, there is going to be people and groups that benefit from the status quo, and are going to try and spoke their wheel, both by opposing their efforts, and by trying to turn the public against them. And there is plenty in the act to cause reasonable people concern, let alone the public at large, which rarely looks below surface arguments. There are some big risks here, and I really hope the people at the top are making good preparations for these contingencies. Because if they are caught out, it could blow up in all of our faces, and we end up worse off than we started.
That all said, I also feel encouraged that they are obviously willing to go all in on dramatic change. Go fishing with dynamite, you might say. Things need to change, and there isn't time for incremental change anymore. There is no fixing some parts of the procurement system, they need to be ripped out and something new built in its place. And that is not a "nice" process, and some relative innocents are going to be hurt, collateral damage is going to happen. Hopefully we don't loose anything we will later on regret...
It strikes me that the DIA ministerial authority is closely reminiscent of the sort of vast powers and centralized authority that was used in wartime to organize national defense and implement sweeping changes to the economy to achieve national war aims. This is the sort of power structure that I had imagined we would see if actions were to match rhetoric about essentially an all-of-government crash program to reinitiate a defense industrial base and permit us to begin to significantly reduce our dependence on the US defense industrial sector.
I expect there will be a lot of refinement to this office and ministry in the coming years, but this legislation shows me that there is an intention to fundamentally reshape how defense procurement and national security industrial policy works in this country. It matches the rhetoric.
This is the legislation you present if you are trying to build the mobilization economy, for bettwr or worse in some regards, whats set out here is not in isolation, and if one can see some of the riting on the wall, they will understand what the federals are thinking.
Just that this time the Department of Munitions and Supply is being looked at as a preemptive over a reactive measure, to an extent
For decades DND was used as the whipping boy. A relatively big budget, yet placed at near the bottom of the cabinet pecking order, where it could be hidden as a useful reservoir of discretionary funding (used to boost other departments or to reduce the deficit, as required). One only had to ask a question, force DND to back to Treasury Board to explain why this T wasn’t crossed or that i wasn’t dotted and presto, DND couldn’t spend its budget again (to be used for electioneering carrots or another pet department’s project). This assessment places it on top as a huge behemoth. Certainly not the authority I’d want to give the current premiere of Alberta, but for the next decade or so, given the dire straights successive governments have permitted the CAF to fall, it will take these CD Howe powers, drive and leadership to boot the forces to a position of credibility such that our level of deterrence will be undeniable among both allies, on whom we will still depend, and our adversaries.
Yes but do we get " 1939 -C.D. Howe and the dollar-a-year men " or " 1914 -Sam Hughes the Shell Committee and Imperial Munitions Board " ? it will make a massive difference . Either way we will get the " pre war/ early war " version which means waste and costly mistakes will be early and often . Guess that part cant be avoided , growing pains and all the good jazz .
Good comments and with reference to Danielle Smith I am pleased she falls out of (the American phrase) the National Command Authority…
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” -Mark Twain
With credit to the author, Jeremy Stuart:
https://ucalgary.scholaris.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/f63e9ad8-5fc5-4bce-922a-7d049a464f13/content
So i just posted this to a reply above yours , then scrolled down and seen yours and its dam near fitting . So my apologies to any one who is reading this twice :
Yes but do we get " 1939 -C.D. Howe and the dollar-a-year men " or " 1914 -Sam Hughes the Shell Committee and Imperial Munitions Board " ? it will make a massive difference . Either way we will get the " pre war/ early war " version which means waste and costly mistakes will be early and often . Guess that part cant be avoided , growing pains and all the good jazz .
Holy shmoley batman! That is quite the act! I feel like a character in a comic book talking about the plot mcguffin, "it's too dangerous, if bad guy X gets their hands on it, we will all be DOOOOOMED!"
And that's what worries me most. I'm sure the people in charge think that they will put limits on it, add the necessary checks and balances, before it's passed on to who ever ends up following their act, but political change some times happens faster than anyone anticipates, and sometimes important and necessary things can be put off and deferred too long, and things that were meant to temporary measures become the new normal, and the world is never the same. You only need to look south of the boarder for a perfect example of this. Many traditional conservatives in the GOP thought that they were using trump to get their way a little longer, and are now finding themselves sidelined and even persecuted for suggesting that long held conservative principles are more important than paying lip service to Trump.
And that's assuming that the people being given all this power right now use it as well as can be hoped for. While I'm willing to give them the benefit. Of the doubt right now, they are going to make mistakes, there is going to be people and groups that benefit from the status quo, and are going to try and spoke their wheel, both by opposing their efforts, and by trying to turn the public against them. And there is plenty in the act to cause reasonable people concern, let alone the public at large, which rarely looks below surface arguments. There are some big risks here, and I really hope the people at the top are making good preparations for these contingencies. Because if they are caught out, it could blow up in all of our faces, and we end up worse off than we started.
That all said, I also feel encouraged that they are obviously willing to go all in on dramatic change. Go fishing with dynamite, you might say. Things need to change, and there isn't time for incremental change anymore. There is no fixing some parts of the procurement system, they need to be ripped out and something new built in its place. And that is not a "nice" process, and some relative innocents are going to be hurt, collateral damage is going to happen. Hopefully we don't loose anything we will later on regret...
Holy shmoley batman! That is quite the act! I feel like a character in a comic book talking about the plot mcguffin, "it's too dangerous, if bad guy X gets their hands on it, we will all be DOOOOOMED!"
And that's what worries me most. I'm sure the people in charge think that they will put limits on it, add the necessary checks and balances, before it's passed on to who ever ends up following their act, but political change some times happens faster than anyone anticipates, and sometimes important and necessary things can be put off and deferred too long, and things that were meant to temporary measures become the new normal, and the world is never the same. You only need to look south of the boarder for a perfect example of this. Many traditional conservatives in the GOP thought that they were using trump to get their way a little longer, and are now finding themselves sidelined and even persecuted for suggesting that long held conservative principles are more important than paying lip service to Trump.
And that's assuming that the people being given all this power right now use it as well as can be hoped for. While I'm willing to give them the benefit. Of the doubt right now, they are going to make mistakes, there is going to be people and groups that benefit from the status quo, and are going to try and spoke their wheel, both by opposing their efforts, and by trying to turn the public against them. And there is plenty in the act to cause reasonable people concern, let alone the public at large, which rarely looks below surface arguments. There are some big risks here, and I really hope the people at the top are making good preparations for these contingencies. Because if they are caught out, it could blow up in all of our faces, and we end up worse off than we started.
That all said, I also feel encouraged that they are obviously willing to go all in on dramatic change. Go fishing with dynamite, you might say. Things need to change, and there isn't time for incremental change anymore. There is no fixing some parts of the procurement system, they need to be ripped out and something new built in its place. And that is not a "nice" process, and some relative innocents are going to be hurt, collateral damage is going to happen. Hopefully we don't loose anything we will later on regret...
Holy shmoley batman! That is quite the act! I feel like a character in a comic book talking about the plot mcguffin, "it's too dangerous, if bad guy X gets their hands on it, we will all be DOOOOOMED!"
And that's what worries me most. I'm sure the people in charge think that they will put limits on it, add the necessary checks and balances, before it's passed on to who ever ends up following their act, but political change some times happens faster than anyone anticipates, and sometimes important and necessary things can be put off and deferred too long, and things that were meant to temporary measures become the new normal, and the world is never the same. You only need to look south of the boarder for a perfect example of this. Many traditional conservatives in the GOP thought that they were using trump to get their way a little longer, and are now finding themselves sidelined and even persecuted for suggesting that long held conservative principles are more important than paying lip service to Trump.
And that's assuming that the people being given all this power right now use it as well as can be hoped for. While I'm willing to give them the benefit. Of the doubt right now, they are going to make mistakes, there is going to be people and groups that benefit from the status quo, and are going to try and spoke their wheel, both by opposing their efforts, and by trying to turn the public against them. And there is plenty in the act to cause reasonable people concern, let alone the public at large, which rarely looks below surface arguments. There are some big risks here, and I really hope the people at the top are making good preparations for these contingencies. Because if they are caught out, it could blow up in all of our faces, and we end up worse off than we started.
That all said, I also feel encouraged that they are obviously willing to go all in on dramatic change. Go fishing with dynamite, you might say. Things need to change, and there isn't time for incremental change anymore. There is no fixing some parts of the procurement system, they need to be ripped out and something new built in its place. And that is not a "nice" process, and some relative innocents are going to be hurt, collateral damage is going to happen. Hopefully we don't loose anything we will later on regret...
Thoughts in conjunction with the Canada Strong Fund?