Please, someone tell me what “defense” operations are currently underway by infantry?

Apparently they are defending disaster profiteers from the dreaded scourge of neighborly cooperation.

North America has gone from believing in economic systems that can easily cope with amoral players (well regulated market capitalism) to implementing systems that reward immoral players (Reagan socialism and lazy-fare capitalism). Instead of coping with the reality of greed, we idolize it – and thus we reward anyone who displays a sociopathic obsession with accumulating wealth through the displacement of costs onto profitless victims.

All you’d need to do in Quebec and Manitoba is form a government committee to oversee the bidding process, the integration of work using various contractors, equipment procurement, training, safety issues, temp worker importation, communications and damage assessment and re-evaluation. Then they could spend a few weeks developing a plan that doles out taxpayer money to the companies that promised to implement the plan at the lowest cost possible.

That would free up our troops to do the important things, like stand behind Stephen Harper at photo ops.

What is so unique is how well this can be contrasted with Manitoba’s situation right now. And, well, I’m sorry to say that province didn’t vote so overwhelmingly against the status quo.

A flood is the wrong time to push a people solution rather than a government solution. But it does lead to a discussion that should probably happen in quieter times. It’s far too easy to throw up one’s hands and call up a distant and faceless bureaucracy for help instead of turning to the community first. People will often surprise you. Give them a chance sometime.

Fixed yer post.

It sounds like the time for massive intervention and assistance is past in this case, and maybe the military is no longer called for but geez that politician couldn’t have made himself sound more like an ass. He should have just said ‘the worst is over, it’s time for the community to rebuild’, then quietly taken his kickbacks behind the scenes. That’s the way American politicians do it anyway.

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As you can appreciate the role of the Canadian Forces is mainly centred on defence activities and therefore they must maintain a capacity in this area to deal with other events should they occur in the country or abroad.
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In other words, don’t tie down soldiers (generally the single most expensive class of individuals) doing work that anyone with a shovel can do. It’s not their purpose, and renders them unable to respond if something else happens.

You seem to be focusing on:

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Moreover the services you are requesting, if they were authorized, would place the Canadian Forces in competition with the private sector at the local and provincial level which could accomplish this type of reintegration work
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Which is essentially an aftertthought (note the moreover) and states the plain truth that it isn’t the army’s proper role to be doing the job of city and provincial contractors.

Poorly worded? Yes. Outrageous? Not really, no.

“Don’t worry, citizen! The free market will come up with a solution!”

He’s all ears for Manitoba’s fires and don’t care for Québec.
It’s gonna be a VERY long mandate.

I somehow wish that Quebec gets ABSOULUTELY NOTHING from Harper (nor the opposition), so that people will mobilise and bring back the glory of the Bloc Québécois.

Government and the military are the citizenry deciding to organize to get some necessary things done. It’s just that they’re organized to do them on an ongoing basis, and the work is supported via taxes the body politic levies on itself. If Harper thinks the government is an organization that’s separate from the rest of Canadian society — an assumption that’s implicit in his notion that it might “compete” with private firms — he’s already gone profoundly wrong.

By the way, by pure chance I was there in Saint Jean-sur-Richelieu when it was flooding. That was a nontrivial amount of water. If the locals need more help, they should get it.

*repeated headdesking*

Canada, I’m so sorry this asshattery is spreading from us.

Our men and women in uniform are not construction workers.

Except, of course, the Canadian Military Engineers who, just like the US Army Corps of Engineers, are in fact constructor workers (among other things).

…because we all know that Quebec has a HUGE local disaster recovery industry. That money won’t possibly go out of the community to companies that operate (inter)nationally.

Our men and women in uniform are not construction workers.

Hell no! They’re for killin’ things!

(I realize that the average Canadian Conservative Party MP is somewhere to the left of a US Blue Dog Democrat, but everything’s relative.)

Take your cold war culture and take a hike. NDP ’15!