National Defence committee  First of all, going back to your premises, you said that we don't have submarines operating in the Arctic, but we do.

National Defence committee  We don't have Canadian submarines permanently with a presence in the Arctic at the moment, but we operate our submarines in the Arctic. Our submarines are not capable under ice, but that doesn't mean they're not Arctic-capable submarines. You say that we have other submarines tr

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. Is there a need for icebreakers in the military? As you know, we have icebreakers in Canada. The Canadian Coast Guard is world class in terms of their expertise in keeping shipping lanes open when they need to be open in challenging conditions. In fa

National Defence committee  Sir, I would say that clearly we care, or I wouldn't be here today. There is a degree of angst, perhaps, associated with submarine movements that is out of proportion to what I would consider the threat they pose to us at the moment. At the end of the day, their effectiveness lie

National Defence committee  To finish off the first question, sir, as I've said, I'm not particularly fussed. I think submarines that are operating adjacent to Canadian areas of responsibility obey international law. I'm quite comfortable that there's not a requirement to be ready to respond to some sort of

National Defence committee  We are experimenting with different technologies in the north to determine, when the level of activity goes up, how to keep track of not just potential submarine activity but also surface ship activity remotely. Underwater detection systems work on a number of different possible

National Defence committee  Our submarine does not have an air-independent propulsion system. The Chief of the Maritime Staff would be a better spokesperson on this. We have investigated the feasibility of that, but we have a lot of other work going on to make these effective platforms.

National Defence committee  I'll ask Commander Mulholland to fill in the blanks on this, but essentially this is an agreement amongst allied nations to exchange an awareness of the presence of submarines and the routing of submarines so as to avoid mutual interference. Where submarines are operating in the

National Defence committee  I would say, sir, that submarines are inherently vulnerable platforms. Their efficacy is drawn from the fact that they can remain undetected. Once detected, submarines are highly vulnerable. They're incredibly effective, but generally speaking, only if they remain undetected. Tha

National Defence committee  We don't have any submarines in the Arctic at the moment on a permanent basis. We send submarines to the Arctic periodically. Our submarines are not under-ice capable. The class of submarine is the Victoria class, which is a very capable patrol submarine. I'm not sure that real

National Defence committee  I'm not the right person to update you on that, sir. We can take that on notice or I could ask the head of the navy to come and talk about those vessels and their capabilities. They are vessels, generally speaking, that are designed to operate in all of our ocean spaces to deliv

National Defence committee  The Canadian navy, operating as part of the Canadian Forces, establishes a presence in the Arctic, so there's a physical manifestation of that. The Canadian navy and the Canadian Forces have the ability to work with the whole of government to deliver a range of capability that is

National Defence committee  The answer to that will be awfully speculative. I can only give you an opinion. By virtue of having operated submarines for as long as we have, and by virtue of the capability of the submarines that we now possess, we have in effect become part of an international group of prof

National Defence committee  I suppose it's the ability to exert control over the maritime environment; to deny, where necessary, maritime activities to others if the Government of Canada so wishes; to enforce Canadian laws in our jurisdiction; and to protect Canadian interests and Canadian citizens in inter

National Defence committee  Sir, I agree that we expect an increase in activity. I would agree that climate change is making new opportunities for resource development. I think that is going to cause pressures on the Arctic in terms of volume of activity, different types of activity, and the environmental a