In theory, yes, the government should come out with a foreign policy before it announces its defence policy. That said, I would like to make two points.
First, a defence policy is not solely the by-product of a foreign policy. More importantly, it is also the reflection of a country's national security policy. We need to acknowledge that Canada's defence is just as important as its foreign policy objectives.
As I see it, we also need to acknowledge that foreign policy changes fairly quickly. The most important thing is to have a flexible military and to begin the acquisition process as quickly as possible. So then, theoretically, I agree with you, but I also think that the strategy already unveiled by the Conservative government is good enough for the time being to give us some indication of what we need to purchase and of whether we have the budget for it. This strategy has already been unveiled.
In theory, the nature of our military will not really change. It will remain flexible, and will continue to participate in combat operations, to defend Canada and to help defend the continent as well. From where I stand, the most important thing at this point in time is to support this strategy and the acquisition process.
As for your other question concerning Parliament's control, it is not the role of the members of the committee to control government policy. Your role is to advise the government. The government is responsible for setting out defence policies. When the committee is critical of a defence policy, it is not playing the role that it was assigned to play, namely to advise the government.
In my opinion, the only way to keep the government responsible and accountable for its policies is to give it the latitude to set out its policies. I appreciate that everyone is an advocate for democracy, but we must nevertheless acknowledge our parliamentary system. Your role is to advise, not to attempt to control the responsibilities of the executive.