This fever chart comes to us courtesy of the CBC, which reports that Canada’s military has been robbed over the last 12 years of a shocking amount of goods:
More than $10 million worth of equipment — including combat gear, computers and even weapons — has been stolen from National Defence over the past decade, according to data compiled by Radio-Canada.
The majority of nearly 77,000 items declared stolen from the inventory of the Canadian Armed Forces since 2005 falls under the category of military equipment, accounting for $5.5 million of the losses. That equipment includes bulletproof vests, helmets and boots.
Meanwhile, items declared missing include transportation equipment valued at $1,456,000, telecommunications equipment valued at $253,000, tools valued at $939,000 and weapons and accessories valued at $239,000. The Department of National Defence refused to detail how many firearms disappeared.
Well. If that’s not worrisome, I don’t know what is. Military assault weapons in the hands of…whom, exactly? No one seems to know, but if I had to lay odds, I’d say your best chance of finding them again is by looking for extreme right-wingers who love them some guns, hate them some gun laws, and really, REALLY love playing army in the woods. And who fantasize one day about shooting up Parliament Hill and all the liberal politicians on it.
Also, make a note of when that huge robbery spike took place. Under whose reign? That’s right…Stephen Fucking Harper. That oh-so-fiscally-conservative Harpo. Who also loved gun nuts who hated gun laws. After all, it was THEIR vote he courted.
And it was he who tried to militarize Canada’s image at home and abroad, though not to very good effect. Especially among military and former military personnel. How many recent war vets would gladly trade all that laudatory lip service for the concrete reality of better medical care, especially for those returning from Afghanistan with PTSD? Every last one, I’ll bet.
And I can hardly wait to hear what THEY think of all this looting under the PM who ironically tried so hard to court their vote.
