Thank you, Mr. Wilfert.
Mr. Chair, in response to that question I would suggest that the strategy that went into formulating the Canada First defence strategy occurred over a significant period of time. It perhaps goes back as far as the late 1990s or early 2000, when members of the Canadian Forces, on both the civilian side and the military side, began to assess their equipment, personnel, and infrastructure needs, as well as readiness.
I would have to be honest and say that when the Afghanistan mission shifted in late 2004-05 to a deployment into Kandahar province, the equipment priorities, in particular, changed very rapidly. It became clear to everyone, given the high tempo of operations, that the necessity of protective equipment—that is to say, protective combat vehicles and things such as battle tanks—suddenly appeared on everyone's radar. As well, as a result of the preponderance of IEDs, which I know you're familiar with--members of this committee would understand well that these improvised explosive devices became a deadly weapon of choice for the Taliban in the theatre of operation--there would have been a reassessment at that time to look at how we would up the protection quota. That meant both equipment on the ground and things such as helicopters. It wasn't until, I would say, roughly two years ago that the decision was taken to purchase Chinook heavy- to medium-lift helicopters, which we were able to procure through an accelerated procurement process. We also then made up-armour investments in our existing fleet of Griffon helicopters, which provide escort to those Chinook helicopters in theatre.
I would invite General Natynczyk to contribute here, because as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, he was very involved in that decision-making process.
In short, the decisions in terms of priority equipment changed as a result of Afghanistan. Investments on bases across the country and investments in personnel were also meant to address certain anomalies that existed at the time. The decision to increase personnel to 100,000 obviously caused investments on the personnel side. On readiness, I just spoke of the capabilities as to protecting people on the ground in Afghanistan.
On the Canada First defence strategy, I'd invite General Natynczyk to comment.