Why do we continue to spend on war when we could make our world a better place?

Almost a year ago, I wrote a piece on Canada’s spending priorities; Chrystia Freeland’s Canada; billions for Ukraine, $200 a month for the most vulnerable Canadians. In the course of my teaching career, I did a few years in “Spec Ed.” That’s where the kids in front of you are what fifty years ago was called “retarded,” forty years ago were “handicapped,” thirty years ago were “special,” twenty years ago were “exceptional,” and are today known as “developmental learners.” Those few years left me some of the best memories of my teaching career. I’m retired now, but the Farm Manager still has her day job as an Ed Assistant with those very students. One of her charges, a young man with a horrendous back-story and multiple challenges, not to mention a history of violence, has captured her ever-bleeding heart. She’s always been the champion of the lost-cause losers. I think maybe that’s why she’s with me. But I digress. Buddy has a fondness for animals, and for some time we’ve been trying to tee up a school visit by me and Bruno. Today we finally pulled it off. Bruno and I were waiting in the parking lot when Buddy and two of his handlers came to greet us. The FM had stocked up on pepperettes beforehand. This young man came out of the building with the flat over-medicated facial expression you see on so many of these students. A couple of pepperettes later, he had erupted into a beautiful full-body smile as he was caressing our Bruno, who, while a bit aloof, can handle a caress after a treat. This evening me and the FM got into a conversation about what lies in store for these kids after they age out of the school system. There’s a great program available locally that is largely volunteer driven and gets next to no official funding. Still, it costs money to rent a space and cover essential overhead. While it provides a variety of stimulating activities, and partially relieves the 24/7 burden of care their parents face, it still costs a hundred bucks a day. And, there’s a waiting list. The vast majority of our developmental learners have no hope to reach this program. What do their futures look like? Bleak. Which brings me back to our former Finance Minister’s budget wherein she promised multiple billions for assistance to Ukraine, and a $200 a month boost for our most vulnerable. Yes, when you’re at least a thousand a month below the poverty line, two hundred dollars does indeed give you a lift, but not out of poverty. At best, you’ll perhaps enjoy a slightly more genteel poverty! But only slightly. Meanwhile, not only have we found a few more billions for Ukraine, but we seem set to embark on ludicrous commitments to commit hundreds of billions of dollars to everything from warships to fighter jets to attack submarines. This is insanity! This is a crime against our most vulnerable! This is a betrayal of our values. Surely we can do better!