Thank you very much, Chair.
Thank you, General. It's good to see you again.
My first question is, I confess, more of a personal interest than anything deeply strategic. Nonetheless, on page 4 you state:
In fact, Canada Command is the military entity responsible for supporting civilian authorities in case of crisis or emergency.
In a past life, as the Solicitor General in Ontario responsible for pretty much all emergencies, one of my duties early on was to have a meeting with--and I don't know the proper title--the Ontario commander of the armed forces. The purpose was to ensure that there was a pathway between the provincial government and the military, should they be requested to assist in the case of natural disasters, usually, but in anything--some of the other domestic issues that can happen.
In this case, of course, we're not talking cross-jurisdictions; it's one government. The premier would make the decision that there was a need to request the military to come in and the Solicitor General was the vehicle by which that would happen. The operational matters would be dealt with at a senior decision-making level between me and the counterpart I was meeting with, and then of course it would be handed off and those decisions would be made by senior military people.
In this case, of course, we don't have that. But you're referencing other civilian authorities that I'm assuming would likely include provincial governments, territorial governments, not unlike matters our chair has raised. I'm simply curious: how does that actually happen? What is the interface between the military, our minister, and the Prime Minister, and then other civilian authorities? How would that work? Should something happen, what kicks into place in terms of the communication that's happening, to give the appropriate bodies the authority to act appropriately?