Sunday will mark the tenth anniversary of a world tragedy that Canadians and Americans won't soon forget - September 11, 2001. Regardless of where you were or where you are now, the world was forever changed as a result.
Along with the emotional impact, the 9/11 terrorist attacks have had a lasting impact on Canada's economy, and no doubt the US as well.
An additional $92 billion has been spent on national security in Canada in the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11, according to a report to be released Wednesday.
The study by the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute, found that since 2000-01, Canada has dedicated $92 billion more to national security spending than it would have if budgets had remained in line with spending levels before the attacks in 2001.
The study also says that military expenditures have nearly doubled since that fateful day and that the Department of National Defence's budget of $21 billion this year makes it the largest consumer of national security expenditures.
This fiscal year it's expected Canada will spend $34 billion on national security, which is an added $17 billion more than it would have spent should budgeting have remained in line with pre 9/11 levels.
It's a lot of money - is the price tag worth it? Do you feel safer these days as a result?
According to an online poll where results were still being tabulated as of press time, a whopping 76 per cent of the population say they don't feel any safer. It leaves a person to wonder if the billions of dollars dedicated to security could have been better spent.
"It's a significant expenditure and I think the question for Canadians is: could that money have been better spent?" the study's author, David Macdonald. "We could argue about whether it was valid I think the question going forward is, should we spend another $92 billion or $100 billion over the next decade on what's essentially become a national security establishment or should we use those funds some other way."
Macdonald makes a valid point when he says conditions have changed since 2001. Osama bin Laden is dead, for example, and Canada's participation in the combat war in Afghanistan is over. Global economic conditions, he says, are posing more of a threat now to Canadians' security than terrorism.
"Perhaps it's time to re-orient our priorities as opposed to continuing with something that happened a decade ago and continuing along that track."
Nobody wants a repeat of a terrible tragedy, but perhaps a spending overhaul is warranted.
