Soldiers salute as a cannon fires into the sky.

It’s great to be back with you after a long weekend off from dispatching. We hope you enjoyed our offerings this week, and we’ve got lots of good stuff coming together for next week.

If you need something to tide you over, though, check out the latest episode of The Line Podcast.

Also, check out this week’s episode of On The Line, where Jen Gerson speaks with Avi Loeb, the Harvard astrophysicist, about the possibility of aliens, the nature of science, and why even academics need to keep an open mind.

We’ll be podcasting all summer long so please follow us on YouTube or your preferred podcasting app, and on our social media sites (find all of those at the bottom of this post).

Now, on with the dispatch.

Our lead item, and something of a follow-up, is news that the government will be increasing the pay of Canadian Armed Forces members. The government had previously said that it would do this when it announced in the spring that Canada would indeed meet the higher NATO spending target. But then nothing had happened for a while and we were getting steamed. The announcement late last week that the pay would indeed go up fortunately included a reference to it being retroactive to April — that’s good news for the troops and for our blood pressure.

This is also good news on a couple of other levels. First and foremost, it’s great news for the military and for national security. The fighting men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces deserve a raise. They work incredibly hard under very difficult circumstances for us, and a raise is the least we can do for them. The lowest ranks will see a 20 per cent pay raise, mid ranks 13 per cent, and higher ranks eight per cent. This reflects the need to incentivize more people to enlist in the first place, and also the military’s desire to do a better job of hanging onto more of the personnel it has already inducted. A bigboost to get ‘em in the door and then more modest but still real boosts to keep them in uniform is the right mix.

The raises will mean a $2 billion ding to the treasury. As far as The Line is concerned, that’s money well spent. Raising military salaries is not only good news on its own merits but has always been one of the easiest and fastest ways to increase spending in line with our pledges. Higher pay for the troops, badly needed maintenance and expansion of existing military facilities, and a shopping spree on fairly basic equipment is the low-hanging fruit The Line has been baffled to see no one step up and pluck. So we sign off on this with our hearty endorsement. Long overdue, but welcome all the same.

The other interesting note is simply that The Line, and editor Gurney in particular, have been calling on the government to just do something. And you know what? This is something. Our policy has always been that we would give credit where it’s due, but we won’t give it in advance. Skepticism and scrutiny are warranted, but so is recognition of good decisions. This is a good decision, and while we could grumble a bit about how long it took, making it retroactive to April at least makes the troops whole.

So, again, we co-sign this. Good move. Good for the troops, good for the country, good for the alliance, and a good sign from the government.

We hope to see more moves like this, and that this is the start of a series of steps that will indeed put Canada on a stronger footing going forward. But in any case, it’s good news for the soldiers, sailors, and aircrew who do so much for all of us. We are very happy for them, and grateful to the government for taking this necessary step.

The Line

Dispatch from the Front Lines: The troops…

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