Funding Cutbacks in Cadets Canada

An old photo of me and fellow Cadet friends with our winter Cadet parkas, a soon to be extinct uniform part.

With budget cuts across the board, the Cadets are once again affected. Now, cadets are only going to receive ONLY one uniform, and that is it. No more PT gear (gray cadet gear such as shirts and shorts), no more running shoes and most surprisingly, no more parkas. The last one really surprised me. Sea, Air and Army cadets throughout Canada operate all year around, and they are losing so much. The organization is run out of love for the program, and many volunteers as well. I know for a fact that my old squadron and it's sponsoring committee has some of the greatest volunteers out there, and now, after all of their hard work, they can no longer warm their cadets because Harper wants to spend millions of dollars on his election ads instead of parkas for Cadets across Canada.

While the effects of the cuts are actually from the Department of Defense (DND) they are indeed cut from the reduced DND funding from the government, which, could have vocalized its support for the Cadets program; a youth program which indeed creates amazing new generations of aspiring Canadians.

Both myself, as well as many other fellow retired Cadets are saddened by the recent years' decline in many fields of the cadet program, and wish that the next generation will be able to experience those amazing adventures we were able to experience. I encourage you to write to your MP if you live in Canada, and help support Cadets Canada.

After being involved with it for more than 7 years in my life, I still make connections through the program, and will always be, inside, a proud cadet.

Carry on.