National Defence Committee on March 9th, 2015

[LGen J.A.J. Parent]

North Korea is viewed as a real and practical threat by our U.S. friends, yes.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I'll pass to Mr. Brahmi.

[Tarik Brahmi, NDP, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you.

General Parent, I am trying to reconcile some of the comments from your presentation. You said that, when the attack was carried out in Ottawa, NORAD quickly provided overhead combat air patrols. If I understood correctly, there was a no-fly zone over the Ottawa region.

What procedure was followed in that case?

[LGen J.A.J. Parent]

We did not in fact implement a no-fly zone over Ottawa.

What I said is that we put aircraft that were flying—we diverted directly over Ottawa—towards Ottawa initially to do a combat air patrol, an oversight, on top of the city of Ottawa, in case we had any indication that this was a complex network operation that would have used aircraft. Once we saw that there was no threat stream from the air, we diverted the aircraft to Trenton so they would be closer to the Toronto-Montreal corridor, including Ottawa, than when they regularly sit in Bagotville, as a preventive measure.

[Tarik Brahmi, NDP, Saint-Jean, QC]

Were those measures that were implemented in the wake of the September 11 attacks?

[LGen J.A.J. Parent]

Those were measures that were put in place after September 11. They are practised regularly.

We didn't have to do anything extra to divert these fighters on that day because we exercise regularly and we have all of our tactics, techniques, and procedures well in place and well coordinated for these types of events.

[Tarik Brahmi, NDP, Saint-Jean, QC]

As you mentioned, the quality of no-fly lists for passengers on commercial flights has improved considerably. The procedures have been fine-tuned following the September 11 events. So those are normal procedures for an attack carried out on Canadian soil. Is that right?

[LGen J.A.J. Parent]

Yes, sir, those are standard procedures.

To reconcile my testimony about there being less threats vis-à-vis what we're doing, we know more about the threats, but we don't know everything about the threats and every situation. Therefore, we need to be ready so that another 9/11 does not happen.

[Tarik Brahmi, NDP, Saint-Jean, QC]

Okay.

I would like to talk about interoperability between Canada and the United States.

When it comes to cooperation, I would like to know whether you're facing any problems such as technological incompatibilities.

[LGen J.A.J. Parent]

Right now in terms of Operation Noble Eagle and northern sovereignty operations, we are fully integrated with the U.S. We don't have incompatible technology at this time; all that to say, that might not be the case in the future.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, General, and thank you, Mr. Brahmi.

Mr. Shipley, please, for five minutes.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

General, I'm visiting the committee today and what an honour it is to meet you.

In your opening statement, you talked about how fortunate and humbled you feel for the opportunity to serve at NORAD as part of what this great country of Canada contributes. You finished by saying how proud you are to serve and to watch with the soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen of Canada and the United States and their extraordinary drive, professionalism, and ingenuity. I thank you for those comments because I think those are ones that our Canadian Forces people would all talk about.

With that, Canada is a much smaller nation in terms of population. In terms of relationships with our United States partners and closest neighbours, one of the essential issues around NORAD, obviously, is that we share many of the responsibilities and duties. We're always looked at as being about one-tenth of what the United States is, but I think the question becomes whether our troops are able to operate American equipment and vice versa. How important is that? Does it require extra training? Is that part of what becomes the norm for our men and women?

[LGen J.A.J. Parent]

Thank you for your question, Mr. Shipley, and for your kind comments.

The Canadian footprint in the NORAD enterprise in the U.S. is about 300 personnel—125 personnel in Colorado Springs and the rest spread among the regions, the sectors, and the AWACS. They operate U.S. systems, just as we have Americans in Canada operating Canadian systems.

The systems in place in some areas are particular to the NORAD mission and are unique in the world. I have in mind our NORAD radars in Thule, in Cape Cod, and in Clear, Alaska, and so on. There are Canadian personnel operating at those sites as well.

As with anything you do differently, training is required because of the unique relationship and mission. We're the only two countries in the world so confident in each other that we have decided to share responsibility and accountability for three defence missions.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

You mentioned earlier—and I'm glad you clarified—that the budget this government provides is effective and meets our requirements to carry out our part of the partnership with regard to protection and the diminishing of terrorism. As you said, you are able to diminish terrorism because of your processes, not because the acts of terrorism are themselves diminishing. That leads me to my next question.

Our CF-18s have undergone a two-phase modernization. I understand there are other projects just at completion and still others that are ongoing. I guess in real life we might call that mid-life revamping. I'm wondering about the effect of those upgrades in terms of the contribution, readiness, and effectiveness of the CF-18s.

[LGen J.A.J. Parent]

The modernized F-18 is a very effective weapons system vis-à-vis current NORAD roles and responsibilities. It's not perfect, but it's what we have, and it's performing really well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Keep it very short.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

We have not only CF-18s but also C-130 Hercules and CC-150 Polaris. Quite honestly, we tend to think only of the fighter planes. How do these other aircraft participate, and how are they used by NORAD?

[LGen J.A.J. Parent]

The transport airplanes are used to move personnel and resupply our many FOLs, forward operating locations, and deployment locations. They provide logistical support for the enterprise.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, General Parent, for your time with us today, for your support in our continuing study, and more important, for your continuing service in the defence of North America.

Colleagues, we will now suspend for committee business and will resume when the room is clear.

[Proceedings continue in camera]