Bourbon & Bullets

A somewhat recent Maclean's magazine article (Canada's Time, except, amazingly, more left wing) was headlined: The (Canadian Vice Admiral) Mark Norman firing mystery. Then goes on to provide absolutely no analysis whatsoever regarding the mystery, other than putting it down to Canadian defence bureaucracy. There's some hard hitting news from Canada's newsmagazine, about the largest scandal to hit Canadian politics since... well ever, nothing comes close, the Sponsorship Scandal pales in comparison to the the ongoing Navy shipbuilding scandal. With the exception that the media this time won't touch it. Another article earlier this year from Canada's national broadcaster, the CBC, written by senior defence reporter, Murray Brewster, mentioned the vice admiral's removal, then did the bait and switch to the pervious Conservative government's purchase of sea sparrow missiles. That story was a non-scandal scandal the leftist media has tried to promote,...

The Canadian Surface Combatant project is mired in delay and uncertainty, however, one thing is guaranteed above all else, the billionaire Irving family of New Brunswick will make billions off of Canadian taxpayers. The $26 billion procurement project began under the Tory government has continued apace under Trudeau's Liberals, by apace I mean, delay after delay and rising costs. In mid 2016 Irving Shipyards and the government were admitting under the current budget only 10-11 ships would be produced (which means by 2025 when they begin construction, we'd be looking at maybe eight ships). Now talk is back to 'up to 15 ships' and the number $40 billion has been thrown out, although there have been no official budget announcements on that. However, no matter how few ships are built, to what timeline, or to what performance standards, the Irving family is guarantee $3 billion in profit. If the Arctic Patrol Ship project is any indicator, the ships produced will be co...

Suspension of high-ranking military officer casts clouds over Canada’s $35B shipbuilding plan Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press  |  January 19, 2017 10:21 AM ET More from The Canadian Press Steph Crosier / Kingston Whig-Standard / Postmedia Network Vice Chief of the Defence Staff Vice Admiral Mark Norman was removed from command early Monday, Department of National Defence sources say   Twitter   Google+   Reddit   Email   Typo?   More The suspension of the military’s second-highest-ranking officer has cast a pall over the federal government’s multibillion-dollar plan to build new warships, which the Liberals had hoped was finally back on course after listing for years. Government and military officials remained tight-lipped Wednesday over why Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was abruptly stripped of his responsibilities last week by his boss, Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of the defence staff. Media reports sa...