National Defence Committee on May 13th, 2015

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Which program? The MP—

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Yes, I did not participate in it my first summer and after that it was done away with. I have heard from others who have spoken about it. As a member of this committee, I would like that opportunity. It's something that I would encourage you and your officials to consider, going forward.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Are you suggesting that I should do basic training, Mr. Williamson?

[Some voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Mr. Williamson, that's your time.

Ms. Michaud, you have the floor for five minutes.

Simply to remind you, if you have questions for Minister Fantino he will be leaving at the bottom of the hour, at 4:30.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Unfortunately, the minister does not spark my interest today.

Mr. Kenney and Mr. Fantino, thank you for your presentations. I appreciate the information you have provided to the committee, but I would have liked to have the written documents before you read them. It would have been easier to follow along.

I too would like to go back to the whole issue of the Deschamps report and General Lawson's directives. My family has a long military tradition and, when I see things like that, I honestly find it troubling. I have read the Chief of the Defence Staff's statement, which you have circulated, and I heard you say that it should not be viewed as restrictive orders. However, I think that sends a rather negative message on the intentions of the office of the Chief of the Defence Staff.

The Canadian armed forces are having problems with recruitment right now, especially in the primary reserve, whose personnel is well below the 27,000 members it should have. Under those circumstances, do you really think it will be possible to reach the recruitment targets? Actually, we cannot even assure the men and women who proudly serve in the Canadian Forces that they will be safe in their workplace and that they will have access to the necessary resources to take action if they are going through difficult situations.

How can we tell the parents of these men and women that we will be taking good care of their children when they are putting their lives on the line to protect Canada? This troubles me. Could you comment on that?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

I thank the member. Her question is important.

Mr. Chair, I think we all agree that the military needs to take action against sexual assault, which is completely unacceptable. I would say that this is why the Chief of the Defence Staff asked Justice Deschamps to prepare an entirely independent report. In my view, this also explains why Major-General Christine Whitecross has been appointed to implement the recommendations in the report and to address this issue.

Let's be clear, Mr. Chair. Having talked to the Chief of the Defence Staff and the Canadian military commanders, I know that they recognize that there is a problem and that they must take action. That is the reason behind the report. They agree with all the recommendations made by Justice Deschamps.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

If I may, Mr. Minister, I am going to interrupt you, because I have very little time.

You are saying that the armed forces seem to be willing to implement Justice Deschamps' recommendations, and I am going to hope that this is actually the case.

Could you tell us where the funding will come from to implement all the recommendations in this report?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

The funding will come from the Canadian Forces budget. The military has not submitted an additional request for funding in that sense.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you.

In the investigation led by Justice Deschamps, this whole issue of how the military justice system works was completely excluded from her mandate. However, this issue has been raised on many occasions by people who, unfortunately, were victims of sexual assault or harassment within the armed forces.

Will you consider the possibility of giving directives to the office of the Chief of the Defence Staff to expand the investigation and address this specific aspect of the issue?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Yes. As I told your colleague Mr. Harris, the government intends to put forward a bill with amendments to the National Defence Act in order to increase protection and the rights of victims of crime, including sexual assault in the military. Changes will therefore be made to the military justice system in order to strengthen the rights and interests of victims.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Could you tell us when we can expect to see this bill introduced in the House? I think this is quite a pressing matter.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Yes, it will be soon. The structure of military law is quite complex. The department has been working on this issue for over a year, but I am almost ready to introduce a bill in that sense.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

So could we expect to see it in the next few weeks?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Yes, absolutely.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

That's great.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Colleagues, we will suspend for 30 seconds to allow Minister Fantino to make his exit.

Thank you, colleagues, we will resume now.

Just a note, we have been joined at the table by Jaime Pitfield, assistant deputy minister of infrastructure and environment at National Defence.

Continuing with questions, Mr. Richards, you have five minutes, please.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Wild Rose, AB]

Thank you.

I'd like to focus on what is, without a doubt in my mind, our most valuable military asset, the brave men and women in uniform who serve and protect our country. I'd like to ask, in the context of escalating budgets and the fact that you've spoken about that already, if there are any plans to adjust the pay received by the men and women in uniform?

[An hon. member]

Hear, hear!

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Vice-Chief Thibeault.

[Lieutenant-General Guy R. Thibault, Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, Department of National Defence]

Mr. Chairman, I'm all for pay increases for the military, for the record.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[LGen Guy R. Thibault]

Certainly, Canadian Forces pay and benefits are mapped in respect to what is going on in the public sector. Perhaps the CFO might be able to talk a little bit about what's going on on that side.

[Colonel Claude Rochette, Assistant Deputy Minister, Finance and Corporate Services, Department of National Defence]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

As the Vice-Chief mentioned, this is how it works normally. The Canadian Forces have a compensation and benefits team that works very closely with Treasury Board Secretariat personnel. Once they have a collective agreement, they do comparisons between civilians and the military to determine the pay rate for the military. Since the negotiations for the public service collective agreement are still ongoing, we won't see a pay raise for a little while.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Wild Rose, AB]

Okay.

In that same line, are there any plans to adjust the number of personnel? What can you say about the numbers of personnel currently in the forces? What are the plans going forward?