Ghost of a flea

Colonel Alain Pelletier, a former army officer who is now director of the defence lobby group Conference of Defence Associations, said the true picture of Canada's military budget may be even worse than the report suggests.

He estimated this year's Department of National Defence budget will amount to about 1% of Canada's GDP because the Canadian economy has grown while defence spending has remained largely the same.

As well, Col. Pelletier said the real budget is smaller than it appears because the Forces are compelled to spend billions on programs that have little to do with supporting soldiers, sailors or airmen, including more than $1-billion on pensions and hundreds of millions on projects such as making military bases accessible to the handicapped.