Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and colleagues.
Before I begin my remarks, I want to formally introduce the other witnesses who are joining me here today, Mr. Chair.
This is Robert Fonberg, Deputy Minister of the Department of National Defence. To my far right is Kevin Lindsey, Assistant Deputy Minister with respect to finance and corporate services. You've already mentioned the Associate Minister of National Defence. Beside him are Vice-Admiral Bruce Donaldson, Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, and Dan Ross, Assistant Deputy Minister for materiel. These gentlemen will also be participating in the committee hearing and will be pleased to take your questions as well.
I am pleased to be back before the committee. I understand this is the first one of this new Parliament. I am always pleased to be here and to associate with the fine work of the men and women of the Canadian Forces.
Mr. Chair, I also want to issue a special welcome to new members of Parliament sitting on this committee. As I mentioned, I am joined by other members of the department who are also able to assist in answering any questions they might have.
Mr. Chair, as the estimates clearly reaffirm, the government is committed to providing our men and women in uniform with the necessary resources and tools.
And we're committed to doing so in a fiscally prudent manner, making sure that our investments in defence are adapted to the evolving economic and fiscal situation.
Colleagues, our focus at defence remains delivering results for Canadians and for our country. The government's investments in the Canadian Forces are all about giving the government, through the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces, the capabilities to defend the interests and the values of Canadians at home and abroad, now and for decades to come. As Chief of the Defence Staff General Natynczyk often says, the defence of Canada begins thousands of miles from our shores.
As you all know, Canadian Forces have been extremely busy, especially over the past 18 months. It has been, in fact, our highest tempo of operations in 60 years.
At home the Canadian Forces have played, and continue to play, a key role in assisting local authorities, law enforcement agencies, and other federal departments. Last year they helped with operations to secure major events here in Canada, welcoming the world twice, once at the Vancouver Olympic Games and again at the G-8 and G-20 summits. They stand on guard 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are ready to conduct search and rescue operations to relieve those in distress on Canadian territory or in our waters. We have, in fact, the largest land mass and coastal search and rescue territory on the planet.
Each year they participate in an average of 1,100 search and rescue operations. Year in and year out, they continue to exercise Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, with several patrols and three major annual sovereignty operations. They are always ready to answer the call in cases of natural disaster, as we have seen, sadly, in recent days. We've noticed how they've provided critical help in the aftermath of Hurricane Igor in Newfoundland and Labrador, and more recently in delivering much-needed assistance in Quebec, Manitoba, and northern Saskatchewan.
All of this adds up to the Canadian Forces' daily tasks in defence of our country. On the world stage, our men and women in uniform are often the first on the ground in difficult places, demonstrating Canadian leadership in chaotic and dangerous environments.
Last year, Mr. Chair, you would know that thanks to the investment of the government, we were able to recruit, train, and equip our men and women in uniform as never before. Canada was one of the first nations to answer the call from Haiti and answer Haitians' need for assistance in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck their island country. We sent C-17s, Hercules, ships, helicopters, and a very capable Canadian Forces task force to that country.
In Afghanistan, the Canadian Forces have fought a brutal enemy, and provided security for Afghans and for Canadian whole-of-government efforts to undertake and sustain development.
Over the coming weeks in July, the Canadian Forces will end their combat operations in Kandahar and transition to their new non-combat training mission in the north and mostly centred around Kabul.
They will play a central role in training the Afghan security forces so that they can assume responsibility for security in their own country by 2014, as laid out by the Afghan government and ISAF partners. This is the ticket home.
And today in Libya, after working to evacuate Canadians and other nationals, the Canadian Forces—along with allies and partners—are playing a leadership role in the international community's efforts to enforce UN Security Council resolution 1973 and protect Libyan civilians.
Mr. Chair and colleagues, the government recognizes the importance of ensuring that our military remains strong, flexible, agile, and dependable, so that our men and women in uniform can adapt to, and continue to perform, the crucial missions that Canadians expect of them at home and abroad.
Since our government has taken office, the defence budget has grown substantially--by almost $8 billion, in fact, an average of over $1 billion a year since 2006--but we also understand that during this period of fiscal restraint, national defence must contribute to the overall efforts of the government to restore fiscal balance. You will recall that in this spirit of responsible growth, Budget 2010 included provisions to reduce the increase in defence funding. Last year the Department of National Defence undertook a strategic review to examine its spending and achieve savings. The department provided the government with one of the most comprehensive and rigorous reviews produced to date, and we had outside assistance in that regard.
As part of the government's effort to ensure best value for tax dollars, over the course of the past few months the Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces have identified numerous efficiencies that do not affect the core capabilities of readiness of our military. As Budget 2011 notes, we have identified efficiencies and saving proposals and we are on track to achieve targets established in Budget 2010. We are now doing it in a way that will allow defence to better focus resources to deliver on the Canada First defence strategy commitments. Our efforts to review and optimize resources in support of the strategic review--with, as I mentioned, the help of outside independent advisers--facilitated Canada's ability to identify opportunities for reinvestment into transformational activities at defence to rebalance resources, to better align investments against top requirements, and to control spending.
This is critical to immediate success for National Defence, but also to the continued pursuit of more value for Canadian taxpayers' money.
And now, the government has launched another Strategic Operating Review to identify the additional savings that will be needed to balance the overall budget by 2014-2015.
Defence will do its part and contribute to the overall government effort. Defence takes its role as a steward of public resources very seriously. We make—and will continue to make—every effort to ensure sound financial management of taxpayer dollars.
In conclusion, Mr. Chair, Canada has emerged from the recent economic and financial crisis in better condition than most countries, including our G-8 partners. However, responsible spending, efficiencies, and a healthy fiscal environment require and dictate that we must always remain in sync within the department. At the Department of National Defence we are ensuring that all our activities are aligned towards the government's key and core priorities. We are realizing efficiencies and savings that are helping the government reduce its spending and achieve fiscal balance.
The government understands, however, that fiscal responsibility cannot come at the expense of our men and women in uniform and what they are accomplishing for Canada and Canadians every day.
Funds requested under the main estimates will help ensure that the Canadian Forces continue to be operationally effective and successful; that important equipment and infrastructure projects remain on track; and most importantly, I would suggest, that we do everything to take care of those fine men and women in uniform who do so much for us.
In conclusion, the government remains firmly committed to the modernization of the Canadian Forces and to their effectiveness for our overall defence team to deliver the Canada First defence strategy. We are delivering for Canadians every day here and abroad. We will continue to do so.
I look forward to your questions.
Thank you.