Calgary & Alberta Economy

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

there is tremendous value in strengthening our ties with EU, especially related to defence.

Is there though? Outside of a handful of systems most European equipment is ill suited for a country as large as Canada, is a poor fit for Pacific use, or completes with something Canada already makes.

A fee isn’t how I would characterize it — it’s capitalizing a bank. We could do the same thing directly via EDC & CCC but for partner projects why not make it easier and have only one financing mechanism?

The UK is in a bad financial situation. I’m not sure it is Canada in the early 90s but it’s definitely Canada in the late 80s. It also doesn’t have the degree of maturity with its institutions due to Brexity and the erosion of state capacity (the parts of the state that used to be handled by the EU). Likely they’re having a hard time deciding whether it is a good idea or not. Plus borrowing money to capitalize it might look like an expense under their national budget accounting rules instead of acquiring an asset depending on their budget presentation.

Fair point on the UK, their industrial base is even worse off than Canada's, and they have nowhere near the resources to work with. Might have to think about offering them province 12-15 status someday...

Not sure which term I find more eyebrow raising, "financing mechanism" or "partner project". Fortunately I have two eyebrows!

Carney is a finance guy, and banksters are real good at number games, so this still sounds a bit slushy to me.

If this is an arrangement that allows Canada to say, participate in a group buy of new Leopards that results in a lower unit price, that's great!

If this end up being money that goes into some collaborative development project, might as well just set the money on fire. Euro team defence projects are notorious for going off all the rails.

In short, selling Canadian arms to the EU is great. Buying EU arms is OK within reason, but trade deals, like shells for tanks would be better.
Better still is licensing what good stuff the EU does have and make it domestically.

But throwing in on one of their projects like FCAS is a total waste. The Ottomans will have their 6th gen fighter flying before the EU does..

 

[darwink]

The Ottomans will have their 6th gen fighter flying before the EU does..

They'll claim to.

It can also be, buying Korean equipment, made in Poland.

With buying tanks, selecting the industrial offset far more strategically should be the name of the game. Ammo manufacturing makes sense. We have more money than manpower, and loading a warehouse for ourselves and for allies to draw down could make a lot of sense. The USA has played the role since the second world war, mostly as a hangover and inertia from massive post war stocks. Having half the stocks for a peer level war sitting in a warehouse in canada, and 2 weeks worth sitting in a Canadian forward warehouse, would play a big strategic role.

For american amunition, they helpfully publish minimum production levels, economic levels, and surge capacity levels. We could choose a couple commonly used items that the USA is having trouble keeping pace with that we use, and seek to establish production lines established in Canada backed by Canada buying at the minimum levels and putting them in warehouses.

Same for anything Swedish in demand, they're prepared to play if we're prepared to pay.

 

[Chowda7]

Canada to boost output of Trans Mountain oil pipeline before selling it

Trans Mountain is also looking at multiple “optimization projects” that could raise the system’s capacity to about 1.25 million barrels/day.

calgaryherald.com