Canada's Military to Face $1B in Cuts???

Two days ago, I wrote a column about the cuts the US Military is facing: Military Cuts Are 'Strategic Guidance'???

In that column, I pointed out that America is not alone in planning such cuts:

[...] In case you think that only Americans are being subjected to this insanity of ensuring National INsecurity, you should know that Canada has also been going full steam ahead with slashing critical budgets. Since Prime Minister Harper finally got his long-sought majority government this last election, the knives have been out as all federal departments were told to cut their budgets by 5% over a 3 year period..This week comes word that some of those departments have now been told to cut their budgets by 10% over a one year timeframe. Care to hazard a guess as to which departments have been given these 10% goals? I'll tell you: Defence, CSIS - the department whose mandate is supposedly Canada's Security - AND Foreign Affairs....

Today, comes word of an 'internal report' that was leaked to the msm. CTV News reports:

CTV News.ca Staff

Friday Aug. 19, 2011 9:09 PM ET

A top soldier says the Canadian military needs to make major cuts to meet its future obligations.

CTV News obtained an internal report by Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, which includes dozens of recommendations that would purportedly save the Department of National Defence $1 billion.

The report argues that budget cuts need to be made in such a way as to ensure that soldiers on the front lines have the resources they need.

On the bureaucratic side of the department, however, the report suggests eliminating or reassigning as many as 11,000 personnel -- particularly from National Defence headquarters in Ottawa.

The report was completed in July and has not been released publicly, but copies were leaked to media outlets on Friday.

[...]

National Defence, like many other government departments and agencies, is undergoing a so-called "strategic review" aimed at cutting budget spending by five to 10 per cent.

"What this report essentially allows them to do politically… is to find places to cut that people don't get angry about," Stephenson reported Friday...

There is more, of course, here.

The insanity continues. Pay attention.