Evidence of meeting #18 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was amendment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1:55 p.m.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
I appreciate it.
Right now we have a robust shipbuilding sector happening and developing in Port Alberni. In my riding, we have the only deep-sea port on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
1:55 p.m.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
I know the local indigenous people—the Nuu-chah-nulth people, Tseshaht, Hupacasath and Huu-ay-aht—have huge aspirations.
Can you speak about how other institutions could learn from your institution or how you could pivot and support across the country the work that you're doing?
1:55 p.m.
President, Nova Scotia Community College
The desire to pivot and support is where it begins. We are fully committed to that. If there's any institution, sir, in your riding that we could possibly share with and help, we'd be more than happy to do that.
One of the keys to all of this—and I don't think it's going to be a surprise to anybody—is the importance of communication, going into the community and deeply listening to what the barriers are. That's what we found to be so important, to sit down with the elders in the community, understand what those barriers are and then work collectively to solve them.
If I can say anything, it's that this has been one of the critical successes. In fact, we've developed joint steering committees, joint working committees, where we come together with our first nation communities. Sometimes the agenda is simply to talk and get to know each other without a particular set of outcomes.
1:55 p.m.
NDP
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
May 6th, 2022 / 1:55 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Thanks, folks. I'm sorry I cannot be there in person.
Mr. Mitchell, I want to just chat about subs a tiny bit with you.
You spoke about the need for RCN subs to have a global reach as opposed to a more local reach, as perhaps the Japanese and Germans and Spanish are building. Could you explain why you think we need a more global reach?
1:55 p.m.
Professor, Canadian Forces College, As an Individual
Absolutely.
It goes back to your colleague's comment about the fact that we're surrounded by three oceans and our southern border is guarded by a superpower.
Clearly, the maritime approaches of this country need to be guarded carefully. That might require a submarine that has a much shorter range than one that the RCN would prefer to operate. Nevertheless our ability to deploy on a global basis is something our navy prides itself on. We've sent task groups as far away as the Persian Gulf, which is practically on the other side of the planet, and we operated submarines off the coast of North Korea in 2017.
Our ability to cover those areas off is an important consideration in terms of a task group operation.
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Can I interrupt here?
I appreciate what you're saying, and I'm not arguing or disagreeing with you. It's more that we have a tradition of this, or we'd like to do this as a very joint.... It's not necessary if we picked up subs to have such ability, though. I mean, the Chicoutimi was able to do that, but for any new subs we could stick to our own shores almost, if we chose to.
1:55 p.m.
Professor, Canadian Forces College, As an Individual
Absolutely. We could stick to our own shores—
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
I'm not pushing for one or the other. It's more to learn.
1:55 p.m.
Professor, Canadian Forces College, As an Individual
Absolutely.
A submarine that's capable of only doing littoral operations by virtue of the fact it has a limited range could still perform a vital training function for task group operations on a global basis.
One of the things, though, that would be very challenging would be to send the submarine up into the Arctic. The distances that are involved even from Halifax, going up the east coast through the Davis Strait and into the Arctic, are significant. Basically, to take a submarine into the Arctic, you're going to need a range and endurance that a globally deployable system brings with it.
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
You mentioned earlier about the subs in the Arctic. I'm going to get this wrong here, but it sounded like you were describing an almost perceived threat from others. I can't remember the exact words you used. I apologize, I'm fighting an asthma head cold.
2 p.m.
Professor, Canadian Forces College, As an Individual
It's a hypothetical threat.
2 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
If it is a hypothetical threat, would we be better off, say, pouring all our resources into icebreakers, with a strategic partnership with our American allies, saying that we'll push everything into here. They'd look after the sub parts, and we'd do everything with polar icebreakers to cover that part.
Is there any value in that, or do we need to cover every contingency within our own RCN?
2 p.m.
Professor, Canadian Forces College, As an Individual
Effectively, you would be ceding a certain level of sovereignty if you were to rely on American assets to patrol Canadian territory. That is the simple answer to that.
2 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
We almost do that right now with the F-22s out of Alaska.
2 p.m.
Professor, Canadian Forces College, As an Individual
We do retain a certain fig leaf in the form of forward-operating locations for CF-18s and the ability to deploy in surge capability into the Arctic. We are heavily reliant on American assets; that is absolutely certain. Nevertheless, to completely rely on them, you're placing an enormous burden of trust on another nation that they will, in fact, share the information they are gathering during their operations in the north.
2 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
What do you think of our country being left out of that new agreement the Americans struck with the Aussies?
2 p.m.
Professor, Canadian Forces College, As an Individual
I think there is a diplomatic angle there that is troubling in the sense that Canada is outside of three of the Five Eyes that we normally co-operate with very closely. That is a troubling statement on, perhaps, the part of Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom about our reliability as a partner.
In terms of the technology-sharing aspects, until the government decides or if the government decides that it wants to pursue a nuclear route, it's neither here nor there in regard to those aspects. If we choose to stay with conventional boats, then we don't need to be jumping into that particular arrangement.
I do think there is a strategic message being sent by the fact that we were not part of that group.
2 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
Thank you, Mr. McCauley.
We'll now go to Ms. Thompson for five minutes.
2 p.m.
Liberal
Joanne Thompson Liberal St. John's East, NL
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for Mr. Bureaux.
Congratulations on your program. I think it is really quite inspiring.
For my opening question, if you wouldn't mind, could you speak about the challenges or supports you have in place for students when they leave the college, which is clearly a very thoughtful, supportive place, and the supports to help transition to a workspace that may or may not have the same level of introductory supports?
2 p.m.
President, Nova Scotia Community College
Thank you for that question.
We're finding that many of our industry partners are wanting to make the change. They want their places of work to be more inclusive, to be more diverse and to welcome and embrace diversity in a much different way. They want that to happen for two reasons. There is the “just the right thing to do” reason. There is that social kind of component to it. There's also an economic component to it because, quite frankly, we do need every hand on deck.
Through our ongoing relationship, our work with the local chamber of commerce and our work on various committees, we try to continue to maintain our relationship with those hiring organizations to try to fundamentally change the workplace. One of our favourite quotes is that “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. I think there is no other place that's truer than in the workforce. It's great to have a great strategy, but if a culture is not consistent with that, then all else breaks down.
The other thing we do very closely, I think, is that the faculty we hire are required to have a certain number of years of industry experience. Because of that commitment and that requirement to have experience in the industry, they bring with them a tremendous level of community and industry contact. Often the employers will work with them to try to make the transition as smooth as possible, so that those workplaces are welcoming and inclusive, and quite frankly, so that their commitment to removing all barriers to accessibility is maximized.