Thanks very much, Mr. Chair. Good morning, committee members. It's my pleasure to be back here.
Welcome.
Thanks for the opportunity to be here, along with my colleagues from Foreign Affairs, for your continuing study on CF readiness.
Over the course of your study, I know you've heard from a number of senior Canadian Forces personnel and officers about what readiness means from a military perspective: from generating capabilities, to employing them on operations, to coordinating the training and maintenance to keep the forces agile and flexible when needed.
I hope that this wealth of information—in particular the testimony of the Chief and Vice Chief of the Defence Staff—has served to cement a few key points about readiness for the committee members.
I hope that you heard that readiness is a distinct endeavour. It's a specific activity.
Readiness is a complex undertaking. Being ready requires preparation for a range of eventualities, such as how quickly we need to respond, on what scale, with what tools, and for how long. Determining and shaping readiness is all about whole-of-government, shared awareness, and understanding of the broad strategic environment.
For the Department of National Defence and the CF, the broad policy context for readiness is captured in the Canada First defence strategy. I know you've heard quite a bit about this from other witnesses here.
The CFDS establishes the government's level of readiness ambition by providing clear direction for the CF on the missions they must be prepared to conduct. It lays out the three main roles for the military, which are to defend Canada, to be a strong and reliable partner in the defence of North America, and to project global leadership abroad by contributing to international peace and security.
The strategy also describes the essential day-to-day missions the CF needs to perform, as well as the flexibility they need to maintain in order to perform a broad range of challenges.
Specifically, the government bases its investments in—and expectations of—the Canadian Forces on the ability to perform any and all of the following core missions, at times simultaneously if required.
This includes conducting daily domestic and continental operations, such as through the North American Aerospace Defence Command; supporting a major international event in Canada, such as the Vancouver Olympics in 2010; responding to a major terrorist attack; supporting civilian authorities during a crisis in Canada, including natural disasters; leading and/or conducting a major international operation for an extended period of time, such as in Afghanistan; or deploying forces in response to crises elsewhere for shorter periods.
This is a pretty broad range of requirements that we have from the Canadian Forces. I think it's fair to say that, by any measure, it's been fulfilled exceptionally by the CF in the very challenging period since CFDS was first released in 2008. When General Natynczyk was here, he used the example of 2010 to lay out how the CF had been performing those tasks simultaneously, as I think he talked about. He explained about Kandahar, our folks carrying out major operations in support of the Vancouver Olympics, and also about being able to deliver supplies and personnel to Haiti in less than 24 hours in the wake of that massive earthquake.
In a similar fashion, I just mentioned spring of last year. Even while the Canadian Forces were essentially carrying out three operations in Afghanistan: the close-out of combat, the massive logistical move of equipment and personnel, and the stand-up of our training mission in the north, we were still able to play a leading role in Libya, as well as to respond to significant natural disasters in Manitoba, Quebec, and Ontario. It's a very impressive track record.
This level of success is the result of several factors. First, it's the product of planning, prioritization, and recapitalization. I think my military colleagues have walked you through that in some detail.
Second, it's the reflection of the effectiveness of an integrated defence team, where Canadian Forces personnel and DND civilian personnel work side by side as an integrated defence team.
Third, it is the result of our defence team's contribution to whole-of-government approaches to missions at home and abroad, whether it's working with Public Safety and its agencies on floods and forest fires or working with colleagues at Foreign Affairs and International Trade on global engagement issues.
Finally, it's about being an effective global partner. That includes through the UN, NORAD, NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and elsewhere.
In order to support that level of global engagement, we know that being ready means developing real global partnerships and an understanding of the global environment. That's a lot of the role that the policy group plays within National Defence. In National Defence we have a network of more than 30 defence attachés covering more than 140 different countries as part of Canada's overall presence abroad, using the extraordinary offices and instruments of our Canadian embassies.
We have a military training and cooperation program, which, through an interdepartmental process, sets priorities aligned with foreign policy objectives, and it lets us target training to build capacity and relationships with around 60 countries.
We also have a wide range of military-to-military exchanges and engagements, whether it's through the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Canadian Army, and even through our Judge Advocate General and our Chief of Military Personnel. We ensure that we use all of our instruments of defence relations to enhance our ability to be ready to act where and when we need to.
As I've mentioned, I think the Canadian Forces' track record speaks for itself in terms of our readiness at home and abroad and how we work as an integrated whole-of-government team.
I'll be happy to answer your questions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.