What Canada should be doing is more international training.  This could be junior officer and senior officer training here in Canada.  We could also create more training teams and send them abroad.  It is not cost effective to have our troops do the basic patrolling when foreign troops are much cheaper. 

We can also beef up our special forces and have them assist with missions abroad.  Iraq is a good example of how to effectively use our defense capabilities with limited budget to maximum advantage.

And while I am on the topic of the military.  Rather than buy the super hornet as an interim fighter, we could see about buying and upgrading some A10 Thunderbolts which the US will soon be declaring as surplus.  These are great air-frames, and would provide tactical air support to troops on the ground.  They are much more effective and as well less expensive than a super fighter jet to do the same task.  If we can't buy the A10 in a timely manner, we could look at the AT-6 or similar.