In terms of shaping the future, that is something I'm looking at, because we have great public servants on our bases and wings that I know personally are very willing to contribute and go in a theatre, as long as we can guarantee the proper security there. I think we should allow that to happen, because this would reinforce the support capabilities of the Canadian Forces and all departments as a whole, not only being military from the regular military or from reservists, but capitalizing on our public servants as another capability we could bring in theatre when the theatre is mature enough. If the theatre is mature enough for a CANCAP or a CFPSA agent, then my recommendation is that it's also mature enough for a public servant. I will be working very closely with our associate deputy minister of civilian resources to see if this can happen and how we can best support and protect those people in a theatre and all of the aspects that this entails.
On October 4th, 2006. See this statement in context.