National Defence Committee on Nov. 8th, 2018

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Thank you for your question. I also want to acknowledge the tremendous support you've always given to the vets. I've never forgotten our conversations regarding that.

CSE plays a very important role in giving Canadians confidence that our institutions are well protected when it comes to cyber, and in the important function it has in educating regular Canadians about how to be cyber safe.

Our government has taken cybersecurity extremely seriously, with the recent investments we have made in cyber. Centralizing the cybersecurity aspect of the work of CSE is another step towards making sure that we evolve and continue to have the right resources, capabilities and governance structure to make sure that Canada remains safe.

I am proud that the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security has been virtually launched. The people who have been assigned to it, I can assure you, have the right expertise and are working towards making sure that we are able to continually evolve and that any future threats not only to our institutions but to our democracy are looked at. CSE has been working with Minister Gould and supporting her and her very important work in that regard.

I'll now pass the rest to Shelly, if she wants to expand on the cyber centre.

[Shelly Bruce, Chief, Communications Security Establishment, Department of National Defence]

Thank you, Minister.

CSE has a unique mandate within the government to provide advice, guidance and services to infrastructure of importance to the government. There's a wide range of target audiences, whether it's small and medium enterprises, critical infrastructure and government systems, or the Canadian citizenry at large.

The minister mentioned that on October 1, we launched the cyber centre. It amalgamated all the operational cyber expertise within the government in a single centre, which is virtual right now but will be substantiated in a physical space within a number of months. In that space, we have established a federal point of presence so that Canadians of all stripes and from whichever constituency they belong to can come and ask for advice and guidance, which is very broadly delivered. It will also allow us to respond more effectively and in a single way to any major incidents the Canadian government might have to manage.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Thank you.

As members of Parliament, we often hear about the difficulties faced by military families. We hear and we know that deployments and all the moves around the country are a challenge.

Can you provide an update on the Seamless Canada initiative? What has been done with regard to the military family resource centres and the relocation policy?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Looking after the families of our military members is extremely important. I think we can all agree that regardless of what job you have, if in your family situation at home things aren't good, how can you function at work? Imagine what we ask our Canadian Armed Forces members to do, whether it's in training or operations. That's what this is about: making sure that we look after our families. Relocation is a significant challenge, which I learned when I became a minister. Most of my experience was in the reserves.

We wanted to figure out a way we could support the families. The military did tremendous work bringing together the leadership from the different provinces to talk about the barriers. We had a meeting I was able to attend in Toronto, where we brought representatives from all the provinces to talk about barriers and figure out the things we can actually do. Sometimes it is by simply changing the rules, whether it involves driver's licences or accreditation for various employment. That conversation has started.

One very important aspect we're trying to improve upon is having more doctors. Every time a military family moves, members lose their doctor. We have been working to rectify this. This is one important aspect. We have another meeting coming up in December.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Thank you, sir.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

I'll just remind all members that we are here to talk about supplementary (A)s. I have provided some latitude for us because it's a pretty big topic, but I would encourage us all to stay on point.

Thank you for your great questions. Thank you for your answers, Minister.

I'm going to yield the floor to MP Martel.

[Richard Martel, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, CPC]

Thank you for joining us today.

The Canadian Forces Base Bagotville is located in my constituency. Right now, we're concerned about the Australian F-18 fighter jets that you purchased and that are older than our own CF-18s. I want to know how much money in the budget was allocated to the repair and maintenance of these aircraft.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I've had the privilege of visiting Bagotville a number of times—I've seen the tremendous work they do—to get a better sense of what type of future investments are needed, not just on the aircraft, but also for the base; infrastructure plays a very important role when it comes to our NORAD mission.

My discussions very early on looked at the requirements for the number of aircraft needed. First, we needed to focus on the requirements of what we actually needed it for. The previous government said we needed only 65. When we did the analysis, we realized we needed far more than that. That's the reason we have 88. This is good news for Bagotville, in terms of where the future fighter replacement is going.

To do that transition responsibly, for the CF-18s, we are going to be investing $360 million in that. A price tag is only a price tag. We have to understand why and where it's going. This is not only about modernizing the aircraft for the life extension, but also giving it the capability to make it better.

I'll give you an example. New helmets were purchased by the previous government. It's great to have a proper helmet, but if you don't have the right missiles to do the right targeting, it doesn't provide much value. We're upgrading that to make sure it has the right weapons system. So the current platform.... As we transition into the new fighter that will eventually be selected for the process, we're investing in that so Bagotville has not only the right number of aircraft to carry out the missions, but the upgraded pieces so they can actually do more, because it's not just a NORAD mission. Right now, we have air policing in Romania, and we have approximately 10 fighters in Trident Juncture. That's around 18 aircraft that are doing other missions.

The point is that we are not only looking at the fighter fleet but we're looking at the important aspect of Bagotville. The air task force, the deployment pieces, has gone into Bagotville as well.

[Richard Martel]

Right now, we're talking about the budget. I want to know exactly how much the government paid, in Canadian dollars, for the used aircraft. Since we're talking about the budget, I'm mainly interested in the figures.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I'll pass it on to Pat. He'll be able to provide the detailed aspects of that.

[Patrick Finn, Assistant Deputy Minister, Materiel, Department of National Defence]

Thank you for your question, Mr. Martel. As the minister said, the $360 million set aside includes many things, such as infrastructure. In the immediate future, there will be a maintenance period to ensure that the aircraft have the same configuration as the Canadian aircraft. The aircraft are approximately the same age and have about the same usage rates to date.

We've set aside about $160 million for procurement, spare parts, engines, and all upgrades. We want to change certain aspects to ensure that the configuration is identical. The goal is to have 94 completely identical aircraft for the pilots who will fly them.

[Richard Martel]

Mr. Sajjan, you know that we're facing difficulties with regard to the next generation of pilots. The pilots' motivation is continually declining given that the aircraft aren't up to date in Bagotville. Recruitment is difficult.

Have you considered including funding for pilot training in your budget?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

It's an important question in terms of our recruitment. I'm glad you raised it. In fact, even before we made the final decision on the defence policy, we knew that we needed to recruit pilots. The Canadian Armed Forces started recruiting almost immediately.

I'm glad you brought up the issue of morale. Previously, before you became an MP, in the previous government, if you went down that path you would have had not only fewer aircraft to be used but also less investment in the current CF-18s. The aspect of morale is also in the missions that we're using them on. We're actually doing more with them, being responsible around the world. The final aspect of morale is addressing some of the things on retention, and we're tackling those directly as well.

[Richard Martel]

I have one last question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

I'm sorry, you're out of time.

I will pass the floor to MP Dzerowicz.

[Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Given the fact that the chair has asked us to be a little more focused on the supplementary estimates, Minister, I want to talk about votes 1 and 5 and the funding that has been asked for to maintain and upgrade federal infrastructure assets as they relate to the north.

I was honoured to take part in the Canadian leaders at sea program. I sailed with the navy from St. John’s to Iqaluit. I had a chance to meet with Canadian Armed Forces on the ground in Iqaluit and see some of the work they're doing, the joint training exercises they're involved in. I saw the work they were doing to support the community and to build relations up there. It is absolutely crucial work. I saw how thinly supported they were up there, and I'm delighted to see that there's some additional support planned for them. I also had a chance to meet with the rangers, as well, and see and hear of some of the amazing work they do.

Could you tell us how this funding is essential to maintaining and upgrading the assets we have in the north? Also maybe you could talk a little about the rangers program and its importance.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Thank you.

The infrastructure in the north, as we start to focus and put greater emphasis on the Arctic tangibly, is very important. The investments we have made, I've seen them tangibly. For example, we have a state-of-the-art refuelling station in Nanisivik that will eventually support our ships going through that area. This is not just about being able to operate there for a little bit, but about being able to sustain those operations. Part of this is the $2.5 million that's going to Natural Resources.

With the infrastructure we're putting into place, it's also important to look at how we support our rangers better and how we then look at supporting the communities better. As we talk about our sovereignty, sovereignty isn't just a word. It's about how we can sustain and support our communities in the north. We conduct a lot of exercises. What a lot of the rangers were asking for is not more rangers. They wanted more ranger instructors, and we are now addressing that issue, making sure support is also provided. One aspect of it was rifles, and we're looking at other equipment.

Another thing we will be looking for in the north may not be on the ground but in the air—remote piloting systems, which we eventually will be procuring, and also the satellites that we'll be putting up. We're making sure we have the right structure in place, not just on the ground, but the communication, the command and control structure throughout the north as well.

[Julie Dzerowicz]

Great. Thank you so much.

In a completely different area, DND is requesting more than $24.1 million in funding for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. For what specific purposes will the requested amount be spent? To what extent, if any, is the requested amount needed to fulfill commitments made by Canada at NATO's 2018 Brussels summit?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

The biggest parts of the investments we're making into NATO are obviously with our people and the work they're doing, for example in Latvia, our navy and the air policing that's going on. I have to mention that, even though it's not in NATO, Ukraine is also very important, what our troops are doing there.

On the AWACS program, the investments we have made, the first decision to go back to the AWACS program was about the investment side, and we've done that. We are now also adding additional people into that.

Do you want to talk about the details?

[Jody Thomas, Deputy Minister, Department of National Defence]

Thank you.

We are transferring to NATO this year $2.2 million for the 2017-18 security investment program; $1.5 million for the NATO command structure, their entities and programs; and then the increasing support for ongoing programs is $20.5 million that is being transferred to NATO.

[Julie Dzerowicz]

Great.

Do I have any more time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

You have 45 seconds for a question and a response. Then we have one quick question from MP Garrison, and then we'll move on.

[Julie Dzerowicz]

Maybe I'll just ask a quick question.

DND also requested more than $17 million of funding for Canadian Armed Forces benefits. What specific health benefits would be financed by the requested funds?

[Patrick Finn]

I'll pass this over to the CFO.

[Claude Rochette, Assistant Deputy Minister (Finance) and Chief Financial Officer, Department of National Defence]

This funding is basically for Veterans Affairs, to help them with the contract we have as part of taking care of our members, especially when they are in transition. Basically we have a health contract that is managed by Veterans Affairs on behalf of National Defence, Veterans Affairs and the RCMP. In this case, we had some payments from last year that were not completely paid, so we received the invoice later on. Now we are transferring the funds to pay that invoice for them.