How's this for coincidence? Last Thursday and Friday Straight Goods was attempting to get information on the Canadian cadets programs from the Department of National Defence (DND). On Monday (February 21), Straight Goods reported that Canada plans to spend $137 million on cadets this year despite desperate resource gaps for the Canadian military and cuts to social programs. On Tuesday, the CBC reported a leak that DND will receive a whopping $750 million increase in next week's federal budget.
  We know the rooster thinks he makes the sun come up by crowing. But it seems entirely possible in Ottawa that one snoopy reporter could put a whole defence department on the defensive. Now no one can say the cadets are being funded to the detriment of the rest of the military. But one can and should still ask:

• why this youth program alone among youth program gets massive federal funding, and how the bill runs this high? An expensive wilderness experience camp might cost $2,000 for an expedition, at wholesale prices with gourmet catering. At that rate, cadets would come in at $112,000,000 for its 56,000 participants. But cadets costs more - $137,000,000. That's a lot of granola.
• why the funding goes to less than half the cadets in the program, those in the summer program (25,000)? The school-year cadet program, from which so many youth benefit, is mostly supported by community groups like Civitans and Rotary.
• why so much for this program when so many other federal programs have been cut to the bone?