Canada's Sea King Helicopter Fleet

[Straybow]

Chretien's main election platform in 1993 was to cancel the helicopter deal and the GST. He canceled the deal, he left us with the GST. What a great man.

Uhhhhh, what's the "GST?"

[Flubber]

Thwe GST is the canadian 7% value added tax on pretty much all goods and services. The Liberals denounced it in the election campaign in which the Conservative government that created it was crushed. The Liberals have somehow changed their election promise to eliminate it ( 3 elections ago) into a pledge to make minor insignificant changes and then ignore the issue .

[Case]

Heh, it seems that just about every time the Australian navy exercises with the Canadian navy, an Aussie Sea Hawk ends up fishing a Canadian Sea King crew out of the sea - how many of the damn things are left now?

Why didn't the Canadian Navy buy Sea Hawks? While they're hardly cheap, they're a pretty good helicopter. As the US operates about a zillion Sea Hawks and the broadly similar Blackhawk, I'd guess that spare parts would be fairly cheap and freely available as well.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Case
Why didn't the Canadian Navy buy Sea Hawks? While they're hardly cheap, they're a pretty good helicopter. As the US operates about a zillion Sea Hawks and the broadly similar Blackhawk, I'd guess that spare parts would be fairly cheap and freely available as well.

a) Sea Hawks are old.
b) Maritime and Air Command want a three-engine helicopter. It's more reliable in the punishing North Atlantic environment.

[Zylka]

If these helicopters are not replaced soon, I demand that our government at least purchase a flying Taj Mahal

[gunkulator]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
... your ass belongs to Jesus. There's no autorotation if your tranny goes to ****.

MTG's post takes on a whole new meaning if you only read a snippet of it.

[Ozz]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
No wonder you want to leave.

We really should do something about replacing Sea kings and Dual citzenship.

Oh, the reason Mulroney's deal being scrapped was
"popular" was everything his later government did
was tainted and suspect of corruption.

Chrietien will lose a billion in HR and just shrug his
shoulders, he isn't getting worryed about 5.

[RedFred]

How are the Sea Kings different than anything else in the Canadian military?

Our second hand subs keep leaking and breaking down. Our soldiers often have to use the food bank to survive on their wages. The much ballyhooed Snowbirds look like they were built in the 1950s. The army's jeeps and transports look WW2 vintage.

The army is so useless that any support we could have offered the US in the Iraqi war would have been strictly token. We are stretched to the limit even on peacekeeping duties as it is. And have you ever thought what would happen in the event of a natural disaster?

I happen to live in a spot where earthquakes, tidal waves and volcano eruptions are all possible. Nice of them to mothball the big CFB out in the Fraser Valley. The army is stretched to the limit even if there is just a heavy snowfall in Toronto.

Don't retire the Sea Kings. Make Liberal cabinet ministers travel in them instead of the armed forces.

[KrazyHorse]

I couldn't stop laughing when I noticed that the deadly-effective ASW helos in Empire Earth were called Sea Kings...

[optimus2861]

Originally posted by Zylka
If these helicopters are not replaced soon, I demand that our government at least purchase a flying Taj Mahal

Why buy another one? Chretien's never scrapped the one that Mulroney bought; it's mothballed in a hangar somewhere, probably at taxpayer expense .

[Ozz]

Originally posted by RedFred
How are the Sea Kings different than anything else in the Canadian military?

Historically we never have never had anything but a shoestring military. (with the exception of 1944-50).

The one time we DID try and have a real military was
with the Arrow and the Conservative government killed
that.

[KrazyHorse]

1914-1918 also.

A million men in arms from a population of 10 million.

[Straybow]

Originally posted by gunkulator
MTG's post takes on a whole new meaning if you only read a snippet of it.

Ehh? What's that? Something about a Latino transexual?

Originally posted by Ozz
Chrietien will lose a billion in HR and just shrug his shoulders, he isn't getting worryed about 5.

He can say, "Hey, it's only $CA, not $US!"

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by RedFred
How are the Sea Kings different than anything else in the Canadian military?

Our second hand subs keep leaking and breaking down. Our soldiers often have to use the food bank to survive on their wages. The much ballyhooed Snowbirds look like they were built in the 1950s. The army's jeeps and transports look WW2 vintage.

Most of Mobile Command's light vehicles are fine. They do the job (except for one model that has noisy brakes). The Cougar is one of the most modern recon vehicles with a design that the Americans are planning to copy.

Salaries have been increased for all ranks during the past decade. The bit about food banks is an old story.

Originally posted by RedFred
The army is so useless that any support we could have offered the US in the Iraqi war would have been strictly token.

Any support by any nation is just a token jesture. The US military can fight the war by itself.

Originally posted by RedFred
We are stretched to the limit even on peacekeeping duties as it is.

That's the biggest problem.

Originally posted by RedFred
I happen to live in a spot where earthquakes, tidal waves and volcano eruptions are all possible. Nice of them to mothball the big CFB out in the Fraser Valley.

We can't keep bases open just in case something like this might happen. When was the last earthquakes, tidal waves and volcano eruptions?

Chilliwack is valuable property that could be better used for homes.

Originally posted by RedFred
Don't retire the Sea Kings. Make Liberal cabinet ministers travel in them instead of the armed forces.

[Willem]

Re: Canada's Sea King Helicopter Fleet

Originally posted by Asher
For 20 years now, critics have demanded the replacement of the helicopter fleet. Conservative PM Brian Mulroney signed a $5B contract in 1992 to replace the fleet, and as soon as Chretien was elected he proudly announced that he'd cancel the deal, even though it cost Canadians hundreds of millions of dollars to cancel only to STILL leave us with an outdated fleet (I'm not entirely sure on that figure, feel free to correct me if it's too high or low).

I think it was $10B, though I'm not positive. Yeah that wasn't exactly a smart move on his part was it? They're getting rather embarrassing.