Well, the National Pest - Conservative PR-rag that it is - has finally given Liberals our due when it comes to the field of national defense. Like in every other field, we Liberals are true patriots when it comes to defense:
(from the National Post):
"Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau may still be widely reviled in the military community as a "pinko" who slashed the budget of the Canadian Forces in the '70s, but a new analysis done by Parliament's research branch ranks him as the top spender on defence in the last 37 years.
The figures, detailing the defence budget as a percentage of the country's gross domestic product, indicates Trudeau even outspent Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, who brought in a hawkish defence policy in the late '80s.
The figures also show the Harper Conservatives, who have portrayed themselves as being strong on defence, have a long way to go to match Trudeau's levels.
The spending dipped only slightly in the first few years of Mulroney's tenure and then started dropping as cutbacks were brought in under the Conservatives.
Liberal Senator Colin Kenny said the figures show the Harper government has to start doing more in terms of military spending.
"They talk the talk but when it comes time to walk the walk they're just not there," said Kenny. "They don't even come close to the so-called pinko days of Mr. Trudeau. Mr. Harper's got a long long way to go to match that."
In terms of spending on national defence as a percentage of federal government expenditures, Trudeau again leads the pack at 13.3% in 1970.
The Defence Department has made presentations to Treasury Board which would see its budget increased from a little more than $18-billion to $36-billion by 2025.
That figure would be about 1.3% of the country's projected GDP.
By comparison, Trudeau's defence spending came in at 2% of Canada's GDP."
We all know where that Liberal swagger comes from - not to mention our Party colours. Kudos to other bloggers who've pointed this out as well!
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