Evidence of meeting #36 for National Defence in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was nato.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Department of National Defence
For NATO, not so much the strategic concept, but in the work that has been done we have core tasks and principles. Colonel Irwin has them right in front of him, so he's going to talk to this in more detail.
Col Brian Irwin
The three core task principles are collective defence, crisis management, and cooperative security. Crisis management has been a part of the robust set of political and military capabilities to direct toward crises. Cooperative security speaks more to outreach to partners and the like.
Conservative
NDP
Tarik Brahmi NDP Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to go back to something that has occurred recently: Canada has withdrawn from two NATO programs, the AWACS and the UAVs.
There is a lot of speculation about the reasons for the withdrawal. Do you have any information? What is Canada's position on those two programs?
Col Brian Irwin
We spoke earlier about capability packages and being able to deliver national and/or multinational capabilities with both the AWACS and the AGS. It's about a decision to invest or reinvest in that national capability.
NDP
Tarik Brahmi NDP Saint-Jean, QC
To your knowledge, has Canada's withdrawal from the programs been criticized by any senior officers, or now retired officers with specific knowledge of this area?
NDP
Tarik Brahmi NDP Saint-Jean, QC
Do you feel that this is an issue that will be discussed at the next NATO meeting in Chicago?
NDP
Tarik Brahmi NDP Saint-Jean, QC
It is said that some countries interpret the withdrawal as a response to the fact that Germany not only declined to get involved in the campaign in Libya but also voted against the NATO involvement in Libya. How do you respond to that theory?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Department of National Defence
We see no linkages between these issues. The issues of AWACS and AGS were taken on their own merits for its own reasons. We've explained that to allies, and we don't link any of these issues at all. Canada's record in terms of contribution to NATO is clear. People just have to look at what we've done in Libya and what we're doing in Afghanistan.
NDP
Tarik Brahmi NDP Saint-Jean, QC
Was the program useful when the F-18s took part in air support missions in Libya? Was the program able to help our F-18s?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Department of National Defence
One of them doesn't exist yet. That's AGS. On AWACS, I think AWACS was deployed to a certain extent. It was, but I would also add that it wasn't used in other missions. It hasn't always been deployed in support of NATO operations in the way some might have liked it to be.
NDP
Tarik Brahmi NDP Saint-Jean, QC
If our participation in the AWACS program had been withdrawn during the operations in Libya, would it have changed the way in which we used the F-18s?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Department of National Defence
That's a hypothetical question.
NDP
Tarik Brahmi NDP Saint-Jean, QC
Yes, it is a hypothetical question. But think about the situation.
There is nothing hypothetical about knowing whether Canada would be in a position to conduct the same operation that we did in Libya without the AWACS system. In other words, if Canada were asked to provide the same involvement today in terms of covering Libyan airspace, would we be able to do it given that we are no longer part of the AWACS program that provides the F-18s with information about their targets?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Department of National Defence
I actually am not in a position to answer that. You would need an operational commander to give you that level of detail. AWACS is one part.
NDP
Tarik Brahmi NDP Saint-Jean, QC
What do you say to people who think that Canada's withdrawal from the second program, the UAVs, could be interpreted as a signal that Canada wants to invest in UAVs more in the future?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Department of National Defence
I would say that's somebody's extrapolation. It's not based in fact.
NDP
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Department of National Defence
Mr. Chair, I am not sure I am in a position to answer that question. I think the Canada First defence strategy maps out the range of capabilities the government would like the Canadian Forces to have in order to be a fully capable, combat-ready armed force.
Conservative
Conservative
Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Fraser Canyon, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to let the witnesses know that I won't be trying to extract any question period fodder out of them with my questions.
One of the things that we have seen, as we've talked about, is that certain countries have taken the lead with NATO missions. Some of those countries that have taken a key role, such as the U.S. and the U.K., have had to, because of their financial situation, make significant reductions to their defence budgets. It's something that Canada didn't have to do because of our fiscal position.
Can you explain how you envision NATO's willingness to engage in future expeditionary missions will be affected by those key participatory nations having significant reductions in their defence packages?
