Excellent, thank you for that very thorough answer.
Admiral Garnett and Mr. Bercuson, if I can ask you questions. Admiral, you ended your presentation by saying, “All of the above being stated, there is, however, a need to have a defined set and scope of capabilities at sufficient readiness to deploy. Otherwise....” and then you go on. That sort of speaks to the heart.
We have two pieces to this. The first is what we want the military to be ready to respond to, and the second is, having set that out, what pieces need to be in place to be able to achieve those goals. For everything we get, we have to keep boiling it down to that point. The domestic one is somewhat obvious, although complex, but obvious in its answer in terms of our needs. The real question, and where the political divide, if you will, may happen within our Parliament, is on the expeditionary forces aspect.
In both of your minds, give us your thoughts on what international commitments you think are an absolute priority for us. Be as specific as you can. I realize that's difficult, but what would those be, accepting that we can't be ready for everything for everybody?
That is just not possible. The whole idea of Canada having a standing armed forces that could respond to anything in the world, unilaterally, is just not on. Therefore, the question is what pieces are paramount to ready for? Give us your thoughts on what international pieces are must dos.