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Canada and the World

A question; the Canadian Forces produced a paper back in 2017 or thereabouts on ways to use diesel subs under arctic ice.

The paper is now clearly out of date; but I'd be interested in your take on the state of the technologies discussed and whether these would be practical.

Staff college papers are good academic work. But they are not policy or technical discussions and can't use classified material.

With that caveat in mind....

Yes, a lot of that discussion is probably still valid. But there are broader considerations, especially in a world where the Chinese really get active. Add in how much the Russians are investing in Arctic infrastructure and we face real threats.

Part of the problem here is that we've become so conditioned to not having these capabilities and relying on the Americans to basically patrol the Arctic that ceding sovereignty has become normalized. We need to have a mature discussion in this country on how much we rely on the Americans and the implications of that reliance. Especially as the Americans become more isolationist and more willing to throw allies under the bus. How much do you think Donald Trump would care about Canada's Arctic interests?
 
Soldiers were buying their own kit during Afghanistan too. If you know something will improve your efficiency, comfort or survivability in your workplace would you not do it? That said, our procurement system has issues that might compel more personal purchases than we should have.

I'd say a bigger issue in Latvia, is the battlegroup lacking SHORAD, cUAS and modern ATGMs. Helmet comfort will be least of concerns if Russians decide to take potshots at the battlegroup.
 
The US is now being explicit....


Hopefully now they will wake up and smell the coffee.

As I said earlier, Canada has become complacent in the mindset we are a global player.

We are not and this is the first of many pegs we need to get knocked down.
 
Hopefully now they will wake up and smell the coffee.

As I said earlier, Canada has become complacent in the mindset we are a global player.

We are not and this is the first of many pegs we need to get knocked down.
It's interesting how the government tried to spin this as just some deal for nuclear submarines which didn't apply to Canada. Liberal partisans parroted that nonsense everywhere. Of course, behind the scenes the government understood what was happening and was trying to cut a side deal.

FyZIblVWIAEcx9w


Now that the Biden administration has explicitly shut this down, I wonder what the next move is. I don't think the government really cares. And the average Canadian is too ignorant to understand the long term impact (especially to our economy) of this move. Slowly, but surely the US, UK and Australia are basically minimizing Canada to the same level as a second tier European power. We'll end up as a resource colony, with less influence than Poland or Germany or France or Spain or Italy.
 
I'm happy enough to agree w/the gist of most of this......but I'm going to have to take issue w/the taxes statement.

Wikipedia shows these income tax rates as at 2016 {I didn't see anything more recent on a cursory search)

View attachment 484633
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Austria

At the reduced, post-2016 rates, those marginal tax rates are higher than Canada's except for the top two brackets (inclusive of provincial taxes)

60,000 Euros is roughly 85000CAD; the all-in marginal tax rate (prov + federal) in Ontario is 31.48% at that income threshold vs 48% there.

Also their VAT (sales tax) is 20% vs our 13%

Their corporate rates are pretty comparable.

But their social security (payroll) taxes for pension, their version of EI, and sickness, are on top of all that. (as ours are).

You are correct and I realised that after I posted.

Simply put she was making the point that in Austria they see the benefits of their taxes in social services (such as health care and housing) along with government services like street cleaning, retirement benefits and overall maintenance of public spaces.

Yes they pay alot but they also have many tangible benefits in return. Their retirement benefits are also robust and more useful than here.

We get CPP and OAS while they get free transit, better pensions and other various services when they hit retirement age.

In Canada taxes are the enemy and the effects of keeping them low are showing. The problem is that wages haven't kept pace.

My friend was also shocked at the cost of living here.
 
It's interesting how the government tried to spin this as just some deal for nuclear submarines which didn't apply to Canada. Liberal partisans parroted that nonsense everywhere. Of course, behind the scenes the government understood what was happening and was trying to cut a side deal.

FyZIblVWIAEcx9w


Now that the Biden administration has explicitly shut this down, I wonder what the next move is. I don't think the government really cares. And the average Canadian is too ignorant to understand the long term impact (especially to our economy) of this move. Slowly, but surely the US, UK and Australia are basically minimizing Canada to the same level as a second tier European power. We'll end up as a resource colony, with less influence than Poland or Germany or France or Spain or Italy.

This is why I'm looking to leave.

I've seen life on the outside and it's not what our politicians make it out to be unfortunately.

We need to step up or risk being left behind and the train is now boarding. It's leaving the station and we are still deciding where we wish to go.
 
It's interesting how the government tried to spin this as just some deal for nuclear submarines which didn't apply to Canada. Liberal partisans parroted that nonsense everywhere. Of course, behind the scenes the government understood what was happening and was trying to cut a side deal.

FyZIblVWIAEcx9w


Now that the Biden administration has explicitly shut this down, I wonder what the next move is. I don't think the government really cares. And the average Canadian is too ignorant to understand the long term impact (especially to our economy) of this move. Slowly, but surely the US, UK and Australia are basically minimizing Canada to the same level as a second tier European power. We'll end up as a resource colony, with less influence than Poland or Germany or France or Spain or Italy.

Ummm.........the person quoted in this article....


......is representing the U.S. National Security Council, not the Liberal gov't or Canada.

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says there are no plans to re-evaluate the makeup of AUKUS

***


He then says

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So that association; accurate or otherwise, in this article is being pushed by the U.S..
 
Ummm.........the person quoted in this article is representing the U.S. National Security Council, not the Liberal gov't or Canada.

Yes?

And in the past the LPC has repeatedly said that this was just about a nuclear sub deal and there would be no real impact and we weren't being distanced or excluded in any other way. But now they need a deal work on AI and Quantum computing? Why?

John Kirby was being polite. Social cues in diplomacy are too subtle for some. The actual AUKUS deal specifically has joint programs on other technologies (the ones that Canada wants in on) including quantum computing, AI, hypersonics and underwater acoustics.

Australia doesn't even have a nuclear industry. They don't have a single nuclear plant. If this was just a deal for nuclear submarines, the logical setup would be to use the Five Eyes framework for all advanced R&D and cut a side deal for nuclear submarines. Instead they chose to make a select coalition that excludes Canada and New Zealand, for all their advanced R&D. Anyone without partisan goggles on and can see what's going on.
 
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Canada is paying 'an enormous price' for the Volkswagen battery plant. Is it worth it?​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/st-thomas-ev-battery-plant-volkwagen-subsidy-1.6876156

"No," he said. "We're going to get some ancillary benefits from the St Thomas investment, there's no question of that. They just won't be as deep, and as broad and as wide ranging as they might be if those investments were done in the U.S. by the U.S."

For Canada, Mordue said, the $16.3-billion price tag illustrates the exorbitant consequence of Canada going toe to toe with the Americans when it comes to subsidizing EV production.

To encourage Americans to buy more EVs built in North America, Congress introduced a host of incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act. Canada lobbied hard to be part of the policy shift, but instead of devising its own set of subsidies tailored to the Canadian auto industry, Mordue said, Canada simply copied the American ones.

"The reality is the U.S. automotive industry is different in pretty substantive ways from the Canadian industry."

The biggest difference, he said, is the American auto industry is dominated by companies with headquarters in the United States. Having a head office, he said, brings the most return on investment because the knowledge-intensive work — including research and development, finance and corporate decision-making — brings the most economic value.

"We get a battery plant," he said. "We don't get all of the highest value, most knowledge-intensive work. So we've got this U.S. industrial policy tool that we have appropriated for our own purposes, but it's a different industry, so we are paying an enormous price."
 
Some might call me a hawk for pushing certain ideas. But turns out the Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs has many of the same ideas in their report on Arctic Security. They are calling for expediting the submarine replacement program and pushing to join AUKUS.

 

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