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February 12, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

La quadrature du cercle de Trudeau

ÉDITORIAL / Gouverner, c'est choisir. Ça ne fait pas que des heureux. Ça commence à donner des soucis à Justin Trudeau. Il n'y a pas d'issue facile à certains des litiges auxquels son gouvernement est confronté. L'exercice du pouvoir nourrit les rangs des mécontents ; à un moment donné, ils deviennent assez nombreux pour vous battre aux élections. Les libéraux n'en sont pas encore là, mais le premier ministre doit faire attention à l'accumulation d'accusations contre son gouvernement.

Hier, le Canada a vu un contrat de 233 millions $ lui filer entre les doigts ; les Philippines ont annulé l'achat de 16 hélicoptères de l'usine québécoise Bell Helicopter. Ottawa hésitait à les vendre au régime de Manille qui s'en servirait pour mater des mouvements terroristes. Quand le président Rodrigo Duterte, un adepte de la ligne dure, a senti les craintes du Canada, il a demandé à ses dirigeants militaires de rompre l'entente et de trouver un autre fournisseur.

Ces questions de principe sont difficiles à arbitrer. D'un côté, cette vente aurait assuré du travail à 900 personnes à Mirabel.

Les Canadiens ignorent l'importance du commerce des armes au pays. Il fournit de l'emploi à plus de 100 000 travailleurs au pays et discrètement, le Canada s'est faufilé parmi les 10 premiers exportateurs au monde. C'est que les statistiques officielles ne disent pas tout. Une part des ventes consiste en des équipements d'appoint ou technologique. Ainsi, le Canada a déjà vendu des hélicos à la Colombie pour sa lutte contre des groupes révolutionnaires, mais seulement après avoir été modifiés. Ainsi, la vente n'apparaissait pas publiquement comme une de type militaire, même si c'était un secret de Polichinelle.

Une autre transaction du genre, avec l'Arabie saoudite, continue de faire couler l'encre. Sous les conservateurs de Stephen Harper, Ottawa a permis en 2014 la vente de tanks légers pour 15 milliards $ et assurent de l'emploi à 3000 personnes de General Dynamics à Newmarket. En campagne électorale, M. Trudeau a diminué la portée de l'affaire, arguant que le Canada vendait « des Jeeps ». Mais personne ne reconnaîtrait un Jeep devant une photo de ces tanks légers, mais lourdement armés.

Des organisations comme Amnesty International font pression contre ce contrat parce que selon leurs prétentions, le régime de Riyad se servirait de ces véhicules pour réprimer sa minorité chiite. La ministre des Affaires globales, Chrystia Freeland, a soutenu hier que des preuves vidéo de 2016 n'étaient pas concluantes, sans rendre public le rapport à cet effet.

Les « Jeeps » de Justin Trudeau, puis cette vente avortée d'hélicoptères aux Philippines : le Canada est-il trop vertueux ? Se met-il la tête dans le sable ?

Différents sondages indiquent que la population est partagée.

Ajoutons au dossier l'approbation du pipeline Kinder Morgan entre l'Alberta et la Colombie-Britannique. Difficile de réconcilier les prétentions vertes du gouvernement Trudeau et le feu vert qu'il offre aux oléoducs...

Comment rétablir la quadrature du cercle ? En fait, c'est impossible. Ottawa doit arbitrer entre les intérêts des uns et des autres, d'une province contre l'autre, d'une question de principe contre des emplois et une économie florissante. Les conservateurs penchaient systématiquement pour l'économie. Ils pratiquaient une forme d'aveuglement volontaire. Quant aux libéraux..., au moins disent-ils avoir soupesé le tout ; croyons-les sur parole, jusqu'à preuve du contraire. Parfois, les circonstances peuvent faire pencher d'un côté ou de l'autre. C'est l'arbitrage difficile du pouvoir.

https://www.ledroit.com/opinions/pierre-jury/la-quadrature-du-cercle-de-trudeau-feba1bdc2307d1b066a537683911da28

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  • Canada’s Esquimalt navy base to receive four steel barges

    July 16, 2019 | Local, Naval

    Canada’s Esquimalt navy base to receive four steel barges

    The Canadian Government's Public Services and Procurement department has awarded a contract to Canadian Maritime Engineering to deliver four steel barges. The C$1.99m ($1.52m) contract was awarded on behalf of the Canadian Armed Forces to provide equipment for use by the nation's navy. The four steel barges will be supplied to Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in British Columbia within 18 months from the contract award date. Under the contract, Canadian Maritime Engineering will also provide a complete technical data package and related training. The contract also includes an option to purchase spare parts. Canada Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility Minister Carla Qualtrough said: “Our government is providing the women and men of the Royal Canadian Navy with the equipment they need to do their important work. “This contract award is a prime example of the National Shipbuilding Strategy in action, providing meaningful opportunities for businesses and Canadians across Canada, and throughout British Columbia.” The steel barges will measure 12m-15m in length and have working decks of 75m². Set to replace six existing wooden barges, the planned steel barges will support maintenance work on the Canadian Navy's vessels. Canada Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said: “Through our defence policy, ‘Strong, Secure, Engaged', we are providing the women and men of our Canadian Armed Forces with the equipment they need to do the important work we ask of them. “Barges are an essential part of the navy's fleet, and this contract for four steel barges will facilitate maintenance on its vessels to ensure the operational readiness of its fleet.” Under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), the government aims to renew the country's federal fleet of combat and non-combat vessels. The programme includes providing the Canadian Navy and Coast Guard with vessels. The government formed partnerships with Irving's Halifax Shipyard and Seaspan's Vancouver Shipyards for the NSS. https://www.naval-technology.com/news/canadas-esquimalt-navy-base-to-receive-four-steel-barges/

  • Astronaut Joshua Kutryk shares updates about Boeing Starliner mission, personal mission patch  - Skies Mag

    March 25, 2024 | Local, Aerospace

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  • Pentagon Briefs Industry On 5G Experiments

    February 25, 2020 | Local, C4ISR

    Pentagon Briefs Industry On 5G Experiments

    By PAUL MCLEARY PENTAGON: Close to 300 companies logged on to a “virtual industry day” with Pentagon leadership last week as the military scrambles to build its own 5G networks. The challenge: moving fast enough to keep up with commercial innovation — but cautiously enough to keep China out. The event, led by DoD's technical director for 5G, Dr. Joe Evans, marked a starting point for shaping a forthcoming Request for Prototype Proposals planned in the coming weeks. The companies selected will then start work later this year on a series of 5G experiments at four bases across the United States. Those experiments are intended to help the individual armed services to refine what it is they need, and what they need to ask from industry, as the Pentagon pumps hundreds of millions of new funding into 5G programs across the department. The experiments run the gamut from logistics to sharing information between radar systems, and each service will play a role in testing out what industry offers. Hill Air Force Base in Utah will develop 5G dynamic spectrum sharing capabilities between airborne radar systems and 5G cellular systems. The Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia and Naval Base San Diego will test out a smart warehouse concept, while virtual reality training systems will be tested at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The RPP will be issued through the National Spectrum Consortium, an industry group established under a five-year, $1.25 billion Other Transaction Authority contract with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Emerging Capabilities and Prototyping. Only vetted companies who belong to the consortium will be considered for the work. The effort is part of a wider push within the government to develop homegrown tech, and quickly. President Trump's top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, told reporters Friday the White House is planning a 5G meeting in April with top technology companies in an effort to ensure Huawei does not cornere the global market on the technology. “We're going to have a lot of them in the White House to have a discussion,” Kudlow said, though the event hasn't been officially announced. The Pentagon fiscal year 2021 budget requests $449 million in research and development for the 5G next generation information communications technology program, $249 million more than provided by Congress last year. While the Pentagon is paying to run these initial tests, the individual services will ultimately be responsible for paying to 5G technologies once they're matured, adding another budget line at a time when no one expects defense accounts to rise for the foreseeable future. When that happens, 5G will compete “with all other infrastructure upgrades that the services already have planned for their installations and for the systems that operate on them,” said Morgan Dwyer, a former Pentagon official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “So, how quickly DoD can deploy 5G is really a function of how much utility the technology provides to the services and how willing they are to trade-off other capabilities in order to prioritize 5G instead.” https://breakingdefense.com/2020/02/pentagon-briefs-industry-on-5g-experiments

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