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In a recent op-ed in this paper, I outlined how a distorted procurement process led to a ten-fold increase in costs, from $26 billion to $286 billion, for 15 Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) ships for the Royal Canadian Navy. There isan obvious follow-up question where were the red flags that should have alerted the government to these escalating costs? Allow me to suggest three fundamental failings and to recommend solutions.
First, our inability to ask the right question. Last year, the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates requested that the Office of the Parliamentary Budgetary Officer (PBO) undertake a costing analysis to build the CSC. Unfortunately, it was not tasked to report on the costs to both build and to maintain the ships throughout their lifetime. Its report, tabled in Feb. 2021, identified acquisition costs of $77.3 billion but, as it was not requested to do so, made no estimate on the follow-on costs to operate and maintain th
Taiwan president awarded John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service
05/04/2021 11:25 AM
President Tsai Ing-wen (front right) / CNA file photo
Toronto, May 3 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday was awarded the 2020 John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service in recognition of her leadership in defending Taiwan s democracy and standing up against Chinese aggression.
The Washington-based Halifax International Security Forum, which announced its decision in a video posted online Monday, said Tsai, arguably the most powerful female politician in the Chinese-speaking world, has helped Taiwan stand up against Beijing s military coercion and international isolation.
The video also noted that under her tenure, Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, and it also paid tribute to Taiwan s success in containing the COVID-19 pandemic.
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For all its problems, Twitter does serve one purpose it is an excellent aggregator of the collectively absurd.
Consider this week: on my feed surfaced tweets from the Canadian Armed Forces, boasting of our commitment to the Asia-Pacific region, where HMCS Calgary is on patrol in company with allied ships, including from Japan and Australia. There was also a series of tweets from global news agencies noting China’s increasingly aggressive posturing in the region, which this week saw dozens of Chinese warplanes violate Taiwanese airspace in an obvious attempt to intimidate the tiny island nation, which China considers a rogue sovereign territory.
Matt Gurney: Taiwan award a chance for Liberals to grow a spine on China file calgaryherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from calgaryherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.