Thank you very much.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee.
As noted, I am Chris Pogue, the CEO for Thales Canada, part of the Thales group of companies, a global technology leader with 80,000 employees operating in 68 countries.
I want to extend my sincere appreciation for this opportunity to discuss defence procurement, with a specific emphasis on Canada's air defence needs.
I also want to come before you, recognizing that I have served 20 years in the Canadian military and now almost 20 years in the Canadian defence sector. Throughout this time in the industry, my north star has always been to serve those who serve. I can say that the same spirit exists within our team. With over 2,000 employees of Thales in Canada and considerable investment in Canada, one example being $40 million annually in R and D executed right here, we are building a safer, greener and more inclusive future that we can all trust—developing Canadian capabilities in augmented intelligence, cloud computing and collaborative defence and security.
The point of today's gathering is that change is the status quo, and never has there been more need for change than what is urgent today. With war raging in Ukraine, Canada's chief of the defence staff is pushing for industry to move to wartime footing. Western leaders are looking to shore up friends to reduce trade barriers and supply chain risks, underscoring the need to acquire the interoperable solutions best suited to supporting allied missions.
To act, however, industry needs more than a demand signal. It needs orders framed with predictability and timeliness. Those orders can enable faster delivery of outcomes, and in better ways. When it comes to procuring wartime capabilities, slow and steady cannot win this race, nor will going it alone. Canada must move in step with its allies. Winning modern wars is made possible only when allies co-operate seamlessly.
Our closest allies are willing to help Canada meet its most urgent air defence needs, with capabilities that would ensure allied interoperability while protecting our own forces in Baltic deployments. Companies, including Thales, have answered Canada's call for the capability to protect our people and to defend our interests. We remain concerned, however, that Canada's procurement system inhibits the ability to act on some of these offers, not for lack motivation but for lack of flexibility.
Today Thales equips the United Kingdom, among our closest allies, with short-range air defence capability to defend against threatening planes, helicopters and drones. This capability is currently deployed in support of NATO missions. Along with training, this capability has been provided to Ukrainian armed forces, where it has proved to be an effective system against Russian aggression.
It is in Canada's best interest to protect our soldiers well. It is also in Canada's best interest to ensure NATO interoperability within this current context. Canadian air defence capability is critical to industry, and industry is ready and equipped to serve those who serve with a field-proven capability.
Today's conflicts won't wait. They move fast and develop almost instantly. Industry and government share a responsibility to use every creative means they can to move Canadian capability from the world of delays and deliberations into the hands of our armed forces and NATO allies.
Deploying Canadian forces to the Baltics creates an urgent air defence and force protection need, and there is an immediate and interoperable solution available. Canada needs to take action. Acting today will also provide a transformative opportunity for the development of Canada's ground-based air defence capability of tomorrow.
Canada must continue to tap into the promise of new ways of working with industry. There are guideposts of this promise, for example relational and trust-based contracting, which is already being used today by the Royal Canadian Navy. It offers the potential to maintain continuous capability, incremental field innovation by design, and to incentivize collaboration. In my 20 years of service and 20 years in the industry, this may be the most significant procurement shift I've ever seen, with a great potential to deliver faster and more capable solutions. Perhaps we will turn to it later in the dialogue this morning.
In closing, I urge all of us to address Canada's immediate need to acquire air defence capabilities to defend our interests and protect those who serve.
Thank you.