National Defence Committee on April 26th, 2007

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I think we should leave Mr. McGuire's motion as it is.

But if General Hénault cannot travel to Canada, I would like us to set up a video conference with him.

I would need an interpretation, Mr. Chair. The minister will also appear before the committee on May 15, will he not?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

That's the indication that was offered to us, I believe, yes.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Fine. The Minister of National Defence will be talking about war prisoners in Afghanistan. Is that right?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Yes.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Will this appearance of the general, like Mr. Hiebert said, have the effect of postponing the report on Afghanistan? Or is this something apart from the report?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

My preference would be that it be separate. My concern is similar to, I think, all of our concerns, that we're getting this thing and it's just rolling out and rolling out, and there's no end in sight. We have committed to supplying a report. If we were just having hearings, fine, we could just continue, and then the information. I understand that we can conclude this report but then also prepare a supplement or an addendum or just a separate report on what we heard on those days, or just consider it a hearing and hear the witness.

I think it's valuable information, particularly what we could hear from General Henault, and that we should have some written report on it, whether it's the full-body context of this report or not.

I'm trying desperately to get this.... If we can get to the report today and the recommendations, and get them concluded, that would bring everything back to us next week, on Tuesday, and then we finish up on Thursday with the report and we're done with it. But these other issues keep coming forward. I won't argue that they're not important and that these are critical witnesses, but particularly waiting till May 15.... It's a committee decision, but if we wait till May 15, and then we continue on, we will probably not get this done by summer break. That's my concern.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

I think General Henault's testimony will have to be incorporated somehow, whether it's an addendum or not. There's not much point in getting him here if we're not going to pay any attention to what he's going to say.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Well, I'm hopeful that if we offer the video conference, and then we don't have to make travel arrangements, that could be done fairly quickly here. But May 15 is a whole different thing.

I know it's a critical issue and it's a topic of debate these days, and we want to hear from the minister on it, but do we have to hold up the entire report to hear that, or do we just offer a separate submission?

Mr. Hiebert.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

As I recall, the request for the minister's attendance was not meant to provide further information for the report, it was just an ongoing visit by the minister. I know we've had discussions around this table before about the complexity of the mission and the fact that if we were to incorporate every ongoing change we would never finish this report, because it's an ongoing mission.

In that context, I agree with your suggestion that we proceed, as we have been, to wrap things up. Whether General Henault comes as part of just a general observation of what's going on, as we receive from the Department of National Defence, or if he's part of our discussion on continental defence, I think we can find a place for the testimony to fit and to put it in context.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

We could do that. We can have a report on one meeting, if we wish. Prepare, table it--if that's the wish. But the first thing is to deal with the motion to get him to bear witness, and then we can move on from there.

I'm getting a feeling from members that we do want to proceed with getting this report finished and getting the recommendations moved forward.

Jim has made a couple of suggestions for fallback if General Henault is unavailable. One is Major-General Fenton. He has been assistant director of operations on the NATO international military staff. He might be easier to get hold of. There's also Major-General Angus Watt. He was the deputy commander, ISAF, air. So there are other alternatives if General Henault is unavailable, and we can fall back on those. But the initial motion.... Claude has backed off on his suggestion, but we will include video conferencing as an alternative, just as an instruction to the clerk.

Are you ready for the question on the motion that the committee invite General Raymond Henault in his capacity as chairman of the NATO Military Committee to appear at his earliest convenience to provide an update on the Afghanistan mission?

(Motion agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Thank you very much.

We'll just suspend for a second while we move in camera.

[Proceedings continue in camera]