Canada looking to set up network of foreign military bases, because why not?

Because this is the Age of Austerity and everything from environmental monitoring to access to historical documents are under threat from budget cuts, the federal government is trying to set up seven different military bases around the world. Because Canada, fuck yeah!

The Toronto Star reports that Germany and Kuwait (who also host American bases) have already agreed to let Canada station troops and equipment on their soil, and the Department of National Defence is looking for some more takers.

This comes after a decade of military engagement in Afghanistan, a conflict 40 per cent of the country now thinks was a mistake to get involved in.

The bases are said to cut costs for equipment storage and shorten response time for future military action around the world. Another way of cutting costs: not having a network of foreign bases.

After everything is set up, Canada’s military will have “a permanent footprint in the Latin America and Caribbean region, on both sides of the African continent, in the swath of countries marked by the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as in Southeast Asia.”

To be fair, there are occasional humanitarian and emergency uses for such bases, like the 2010 Haiti earthquake, but it also gives Defence Minister Peter MacKay more places to wear his army fatigues. Seriously, he has a whole wardrobe now.

Toronto StarJerry Kean/DND