Even if the face of tough economic choices, Canadians don’t want to reduce military spending in order to control the deficit when the mission in Afghanistan wraps up. This, according to a recent poll by Innovative Research Group conducted for the Calgary-based Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.
A majority of Canadians [57%] see the military as serving both a combat and a humanitarian role, while 33% believe that the military should stick strictly to humanitarian missions. Only in Quebec, traditionally skeptical of foreign military involvement, were people more likely [43%] to say that the military should only deploy for humanitarian purposes.
For military spending, only 17% of Canadians think we spend too much on defence. Some 35% say we spend too little on our armed forces, while an almost equal number [34%] think we’re spending the right amount as is. Again, the contrasts are most striking in Quebec and Alberta, with citizens in the former most likely to oppose increased spending, and residents of the latter most in support.
When considering military spending in the context of the current fiscal deficit, 41% said we should reduce spending to the Canadian Armed Forces when the Afghan mission is over, but 48% said we should look to other areas to find cuts. There was very little support for maintaining military spending only for home defence, leaving international missions to other nations.
46% of Canadians said that we should upgrade what is considered essential military equipment for our soldiers, with 36% supporting the withdrawal of our soldiers from combat in lieu of spending. Only 10% supported delaying equipment upgrades to fight the deficit, even if it meant putting our soldiers at risk.
For the record, the Conservative government has reversed its previous promises on military spending by announcing a slowing of the annual growth of spending to the Canadian military, saving $525 million in 2012-2013 in planned spending after troops leave Afghanistan. They will save $1 billion annually starting in 2013-2014. By 2015, $2.5 billion would be saved through reduced spending increases to the military.
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