Use It or Lose It

The funding committed in SSE represents the first time in a generation that the Canadian military has received a substantial new financial commitment when the government is in deficit. [...] The problem persists to this day, such that in the run-up to the release of SSE, the Chief of 1 David Perry, “Putting the Armed Back into the Canadian Armed Forces,” Vimy Paper, CDA Institute, January 2015, 6. Use It or Lose It: SSE and DND’s Chronic Underspending Problem Page 1 by Eugene Lang May 2018 Use It or Lose It: SSE and DND’s Chronic Underspending Problem Defence Staff, General Jonathan V [...] The fact DND offers up these old and rather underwhelming reforms suggests it sees the responsibility for defence procurement problems lying largely outside its domain and inside the realms of the other departments involved in the process – Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and the Privy Counc [...] It serves no one’s interest to continue this game, least of all DND and the Canadian Armed Forces, especially in the context of the gift they have been given through SSE and its associated funding. [...] The hard reality, however, is that the other departments involved in defence procurement have no incentive to end the game.