Indo-Pacific strategy adds more pressures to navy amid ship, sailor shortages
Global News
Officials acknowledged that they have been ``grappling'' with how to fulfill the government's requirement to keep a constant rotation of frigates in the Indo-Pacific.
The Liberal government’s new Indo-Pacific strategy has sparked concerns about added pressure on the Royal Canadian Navy at a time when it is already dealing with a shortage of sailors and warships.
The new strategy includes a promise of millions of dollars of additional funding to boost Canada’s military presence and operations in the Indo-Pacific, alongside more trade and diplomatic investments.
One of the hallmarks of the new plan is for the Canadian Armed Forces to maintain a semi-permanent naval footprint while laying the groundwork for closer military co-operation and collaboration with traditional and non-traditional allies in the region.
Yet officials acknowledged during a background briefing on Monday that they have been “grappling” with how to fulfill the government’s requirement to keep a constant rotation of frigates in the Indo-Pacific.
That’s because the navy has several other commitments, including in Europe, and a limited number of frigates. The navy is also short about 1,300 sailors as the military writ large struggles with what senior officers have described as a personnel crisis.
“We don’t have the operational plans yet,” said one official, who could not be named as a condition of the briefing. “This is a strategy. The operational plans will get done, will be developed every single year as we look ahead to the sailing season.”
Even before the new strategy was unveiled, the navy was forced to make a difficult choice on where to send its frigates.
HMCS Vancouver and HMCS Winnipeg were both deployed to the Indo-Pacific in June, the first time two Halifax-class frigates have sailed in the region together. Both are returning home now.
The family behind one of Canada’s most well-known ice-cream brands says they’re absorbing “all immediate increases in our costs” as the U.S.-Canada trade war heats up.
Friedrich Trump called his business in Bennett, a town that sprang up because of the Klondike Gold Rush, the Arctic Restaurant & Hotel.
A new poll suggests that 40 per cent of Canadians are worried about losing their jobs as many businesses scale back hiring plans in response to the trade war with the U.S.
At the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, the tariff trade war between Canada and the U.S. is leaving flyers who travel between the two countries feeling very uneasy.
The man pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Migratory Birds Regulations after hunting snow geese without a permit, says a release from the ECCC.
Doug Ford is set to fly in and out of the U.S. capital on Thursday for a meeting with President Donald Trump's commerce secretary which could calm or reignite trade tensions.
'Half of us here are dual citizens, including me -- Canadian and American, half of us,' Point Roberts resident Brian Calder told Global News.
The proposed upgrades include parking lot improvements, wider trails, and a 2.4-metre-wide multi-use pathway.
Carney will replace Justin Trudeau after winning a race for the Liberal leadership on Sunday, and will take the reins of government amid a growing trade war with the U.S.
A Toronto woman who faced multiple charges in a dog attack that seriously injured a child has pleaded guilty to some of them, including a criminal charge of negligence.
Doug Ford was spending Wednesday meeting with Canada's incoming prime minister and speaking to his fellow premiers ahead of a trip Thursday to Washington, D.C.
The Bank of Canada cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points, bringing it down to 2.75 per cent. Experts say the outlook for the housing market remains hazy.
Officers received a call shortly after noon Wednesday about an unconscious person who was found on the slopes, lying near a tree.