Until the Canadian Forces acquired its own fleet of Boeing C-17 Globemasters that were capable of flying our biggest loads — tanks, the DART, etc. — around the world, we used to have to a rent a ride to get our people and gear to where they needed to go. We paid the Americans, for example, $1-million one-way per tank to move a squadron of Canadian Leopards to Afghanistan. Most often, though, we'd rent from Russian private sector firms. We still do, in fact, even though we now have our own long-haul strategic airlift capability.
The Conservative government — mostly former defence minister Gordon O'Connor along with Edmonton-area MP and former fighter pilot Laurie Hawn — justified this multi-billion dollar acquisition our own strategic airlift because they said when our troops or gear need to get somewhere, we simply can't wait around to see if we can rent a ride. In their view, waiting around for a ride means we're simply not effective as a fighting force. I agree with that point except that no one in the CF — be it Chief of the Defence Staff General Hillier nor Chief of the Air Staff Angus Watt — has ever been able to provide me an example of our assets being left high-and-dry because we couldn't find a ride for them. In other words, the empirical evidence would seem to indicate that the CF was doing just fine, in terms of operational temp, with the concept of renting a ride and that perhaps the billions spent on strategic airlift might have been better spent on, say, new search-and-rescue aircraft, new helicopters, or any number of other things the CF needs.
But now comes the Belleville Intelligencer with perhaps the best reason for buying our own strategic airlift capability rather than renting from the Russians: Apparently, the Russians aren't exactly the safest aviators in the world. The Intelligencer's Luke Hendry, working off a great Access to Information request, describes the time, for example, Canadian personnel got a little nervous on one of these Russian flights when the Russian crew fired up the Hibachi in the cargo compartment — while in flight! And then there's this:
Messages written over the years by Canadian Forces staff tell of flights in which the foreign crews tied together containers of ammunition with those containing fuel oil; did not provide seatbelts for passengers; consumed alcohol in flight; and refused to de-ice their planes.
Tip 'o the toque for the Intelligencer's intelligence to Mr. C. Taylor …
I don't have any links quickly at hand, but something else to consider was the considerable strain that was being placed on an already aging and stretched Herc fleet.
I'd also suggest that all it would take is for our forces to be left hanging just once during a crisis for critics to jump up and start yelling about why nothing was done to make sure it didn't happen. And I'm sure we're all aware that any party in Opposition would do exactly that.
From this perspective, I view the purchases as being pro-active in ensuring that our ability to respond in a timely fashion is secured.
And I have a problem with leasing transport services from other countries when there is no reason why we can't be self-sufficient with some self-investment. I find it fundamentally repugnant to spend millions of dollars to foreign interests to serve our needs when we are reportedly one of the wealthiest nations in the world.