Halifax Tar
Army.ca Fixture
- Reaction score
- 11,161
- Points
- 1,260
Military equipment and materiel buys are all facing delays due to the world situation. Waiting for a shooting war in Europe before investing drives up cost and increases timelines - so that's not an immediate expenditure area, whether talking bullets, bombers or bosun training.
Base infra and military housing are important areas to invest, but in many areas the construction industry is already tapped out - a lack of skilled trades is creating delays and driving up costs. For some CAF construction, major companies are flying in teams because the local economy lacks a sufficiently large skilled workforce to do all the things DND/CAF want. (ADM IE looks at their overall portfolio demand to try to not overwhelm areas as a measure to prevent that, but can't always be successful).
So yes - there is lots of investment necessary, but capacity to execute (both internal and external to DND) are limiting factors.
re: Pay: Junior officers are already well (perhaps over) paid: A Reg F Capt IPC 2 is already grossing over $100K annually, before any allowances. Across the board increases may not be necessary, but instead focused on NCMs.
To me the pay problem for NCMs is at the book ends. The new folks aren't getting enough and the PO1/WOs and up aren't being remunerated for their responsibility and efforts.