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I honestly can't think of another more self-serving individualistic society on the planet...but I'm open to suggestions.

   

Honestly, what society currently is more individualist and self-serving than Canada?

   

Well, individualism isn't always a bad thing. It's the basis of capitalism, and it's worked quite well for us. And in a democracy, the selection of government depends on individuals.

Many people give their time and money to charity. Was Terry Fox self-serving? What aboput the folks that organize and enter the Terry Fox run?

Regardless, whatever we are doing in Canda is workgin since we live, by any yardstick, in a remarkably peaceful and prosperous nation.

   

You make some excellent points, however, Canadians still lag greatly behind other comparable nations when it comes to donating time and money. Apparently we have been cultured to think the government will take care of the problem.

But its not about charity...its about people doing little fake coughs when they see someone smoking, its about the rights of the individual consistenlty trumping the group from court challenges to HR tribunals, its about the road rage that is so prevalent in much of Canada now. Its about school boards banning peanuts, milk etc because a student may be allergic, its about a country that can't bring itself to punish criminals or even not allow them to vote. We are so concerned with the individual (surely the word self-esteem is as Canadian as chesterfield) I don't know of another society as self serving.

   

You missing my point avro. Each on their own accord is a valid concern but where do you draw the line between individual and group rights.

If you are so concerned about children going into anaphylactic shock, why stop at schools? Why not ban peanut butter from Canada so no child will inadvertenly come in contact with it nor have hurt feelings for not being able to enjoy what other children do.

There is not a single example I can give you that you can't give plenty of valid reasons why they should'nt be restricted, controlled or banned. The ends do not justify the means.

   

Canada should ban bees, hornets, and spiders, too, then.

   

Funny, the first thing I thought of was Quebec,
But then you're probably too close to the problem to see it.

At least Alberta is still trying to stay in Canada.

   

There are a few points here to address.
1. I think our military has nose dived steady since integration (thanks Pierre)

2. Successive governments have done little to stem the flow but they are smart enough not to make it an election issue.

3.Grainfed made some good points about the abuse of INDIVIDUAL rights but to be fair the general population can point to our Pierre inspired constitution and our neighbors for some of those learned habits. The constitution is the reason we have more lawyer then soldiers in this country.

   

When we were at home, my son's school had peanut free classrooms, rather than the entire school having to be peanut free. Any child with a severe allergy was also required to have an epi pen, kept in the classroom or the office. No pen, the child was not allowed to come to school. Most of the problems can be avoided by ensuring proper hand washing takes place. Over here, you never hear of peanut allergies, which is a good thing because most foods are cooked in peanut oil or contain some peanut product, egg or seafood.

   

Wow...

Here's a great link off the government website, that details the entire report, its pretty shocking actually, to have it all there like that...

http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/comm ... ep05-e.htm

I know I have seen a few "Armed Forces of Canada" advertisements showing up on television though, and being surprised, because they were advertising Canadian Armed Forces, and previously the only advertised armed forces commercials I had seen, had been for the US.

I fully support our government increasing military funding, I more than support it, but after reading that report I really do have to wonder where exactly is it that our $ is going? It isn't going towards lowering education costs, because tuition is climbing. It isn't going towards healthcare, because doctors & other medicare staff are still leaving the country because there's more $ out there and the conditions are becoming deplorable here in Canada, it isn't going towards other social services, (pretty sure it isn't at least) because I know they're seriously cracking down on the welfare system, making it nearly impossible to either get onto it or stay on it, to reduce their spending costs there.

I have to laugh, because there's a link to the 2005-2006 Fiscal Budget for our Canadian Armed Forces, on this page here... http://www.canadianally.com/ca/news/index-en.asp --and the link doesn't work. I found some irony in that because it seems to symbolize the lack of military budget that our government has...

Instead of focusing on what was wrong, what is wrong however, and debating over all that, we should glance at it & be focusing more on the improvement. Sure it is important to know what the problems are, but they're not going to get any better if we focus on them & only them. They'll just keep on getting worse, and we'll have more problems to focus on, and nothing will ever get accomplished.

   

I agree.......it's been happening for years!!! The reason recruiters are having difficulty and the reason there's an exodus is that even after spending 10-20 years at a job, the people still get treated like shit and they've had enough. I've got 15 1/2 years in and still get treated like I joined yesterday. I've watched guys with 16, 17, 18 years in get fed up with it and walk out. How can a grown man with that much time in a job be expected to put up with it. If I was in a civilian job for 15 1/2 years I wouldn't be treated like this. I've about had enough and have been putting out resumes to get out of this shit. I'll go where I'll be treated with some decency. If we want to see the Military improve, it's time that the government spent some money on teaching these assholes about leadership. Then maybe the "leaders" will concentrate on improving clothing and equipment and not their egos.

   

That's because Socialism doesn't work. Listen to what Tory-Canuck has said about Alberta. I agree with Bart, you need to beef up your military A LOT.

   

Don't fool yourselfs, the Canadian Forces are quite capable of accomplishing their mandate. However, they are being streched thing due to a high operational tempo.

As for integration, what is the military doing now... Canada Command. That's a large scale integration for you. People need to understand defence in the post 9/11 world. You cannot just have one element (Army, Navy, Air Force) go at it alone. That's the idea behind the Forgien Affairs 3D + T approach and the CF 3 Block War approach. You need everyone working together to provide the right combat mix. This means having service men and women from all elements working togther alongside NGO's and aid workers.

Do some relevant research on current defence policy and then post. I recommend starting with the current IPS (International Policy Statement).

   

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