National Defence Committee on Nov. 29th, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

We'd appreciate that very much.

Mr. Alexander.

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Can I ask a very quick question? I think it's of interest to all members.

When we talk about search and rescue, General, we know that historical and current incidents are still concentrated on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. That's what the statistics show. But we expect more traffic in the north; we expect some evolution in the share. What preparations are being made to ensure we're ready to deal with additional search and rescue requirements in the north?

[LGen Walter Semianiw]

When you look at Operation Nanook 2011, it was focused on search and rescue in the north. We brought all of our assets together to see what we would have to do to have the capabilities in place in the highest part of the north if needed. So we actually do the training and exercising. We continually look at what the challenges are in the area in the north. Do we have the assets needed to be able to provide that support? We continuously examine the changing and evolving nature of what is going on.

From a purely data set point of view, it is clear that you can't have men and women in uniform located everywhere across Canada. That would be impossible. You need good situational awareness to be able to queue forces to get them where they need to go, and we have that in place. As we've seen in the tragic case of Sergeant Gilbert, his team got there in time to rescue that father and son, but tragically and sadly Sergeant Gilbert lost his life doing that.

So it is in place. We continually monitor and look at whether we will need additional requirements in the future.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Kellway, you may have a final question.

[Matthew Kellway, NDP, Beaches—East York, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

General, thank you very much for being with us today.

With respect to forces on standby ready to go for the home game, you commented on personnel. Are there equipment shortages or needs that you have identified for the home game?

[LGen Walter Semianiw]

There are no equipment shortages. We actually have more than we need. In many cases what is needed at home are men and women who first provide a lot of that physical support. Beyond that, in a lot of cases engineering support is needed--backhoes and the like--which we do have across the country.

We have found that from a domestic point of view we have all the capabilities we need. Particularly now that we have C-17s, we can move capabilities and men and women in uniform across the country easily and much more quickly than we could in the past. We have everything we need to be able to get the job done.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

General, I really appreciate your comments and candour with the committee today on our study on readiness. Hopefully we'll be able to put together a report that will provide value to the Canadian Forces, the public and government, and of course to our colleagues in Parliament. Thank you, General Semianiw, for joining us.

As a reminder for the committee, on Thursday Minister MacKay will be appearing. He has cabinet at 9:30, so I'm going to call the meeting for 8:15 so we can have a full hour with the minister and accommodate his schedule. It's a little bit earlier for all of us.

On December 6 we have the Royal Canadian Navy booked, and we have the Vice-Chief of Defence staff on December 8. The 15th is not confirmed yet, but I'm hoping to have the air force. Then we will get into the directions for drafting the report.

Mr. McKay.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

The subcommittee has not met for quite a while. I wasn't going to say anything about the Norwegian minister, but I was caught by surprise. It would have been nice to know in advance that the Norwegian minister was coming.

Similarly, with Minister MacKay, this is generally an opportunity for the opposition in particular. As it turns out, I won't be in the country at the time. It would have been nice to have at least accommodated opposition colleagues and given the dates he was available. I would have liked to have some input into that, because as it turns out I won't have any input. I don't think that's a collegial way to operate.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

I apologize for that. We only had one date given to us by the minister, and we have to report back by December 6 on the supplementary estimates if it's going to be of any value to the House. If we're going to be providing that input, we had to do it before December 6, and the only day he had available was Thursday.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

We all have schedules to accommodate here.

In particular, the minister's appearance at any committee is generally regarded as an opportunity for the opposition in particular to ask questions of the minister. As it turns out, it's a missed opportunity.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Yes, unfortunately, but that's the way things bounce sometimes.

On the Norwegian minister, that also came at us fairly rapidly. That's when we were supposed to actually have the commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force--

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

With an active subcommittee or some collegiality, we might have actually figured this out.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

With that, I'll take a motion to adjourn.

[An hon. member]

So moved.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

(Motion agreed to)

We're out of here.