National Defence Committee on Dec. 1st, 2016

[John Forster]

In the last budget there was money provided. There was the $360 million for this year's operation.

Keep in mind that when we put somebody into that theatre for a year, there are always follow-on costs for the next two years after to replenish stores, supplies, munitions; so the money in the supplementary estimates is for this year, for the mission to run to end of March. When the government takes a decision on whether to extend the mission and to do whatever, we'll put in a new request, and the budget would announce money for that for next—

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Thank you for that.

Under Operation Iraqi Freedom—that takes us back into the mid-2000s—the U.S. forces actually had personnel, mostly officers, in the field who were reservists and who were equipped to advise the Iraqi government on questions of governance. Under the current allotment of $147 million to Operation Impact, do we have the capacity to potentially walk down that avenue, to not only provide military advice but to provide, through our reserve forces, should they be deployed in theatre, governance advice to elements of the executive branch of the armed forces that may involve policing, that may involve military training, but also, increasingly, questions about multi-level governance, civil administration, and those kinds of questions?

[VAdm Mark Norman]

In the current footprint of Operation Impact, we've actually set conditions for that conversation through the ministerial liaison team that the minister referred to earlier. It's a small team of serving officers at the moment.

The extent to which that could evolve and the extent to which that could be supplemented by reservists are both valid questions that go back to my previous response in terms of how we see this evolving as we potentially shift from a more kinetic set of actions to a more supportive set of actions in terms of advising.

[John Forster]

To add to the vice chief's comments, there's an advisory team in Iraq, advising the Iraqi government, and the budget allows for a similar kind of capacity-building team in Jordan and Lebanon, as well, to help with the kind of capacity building in the region, to help those countries cope with it.

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

That's good to know and helpful. To take that one step further—

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

You're going to have to give the floor up. You have seconds left. We won't get a question and response.

I'm going to give it over to this side. Either Mr. Paul-Hus or Ms. Gallant, you have the floor.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Chief Bossenmaier, DND is requesting authorization to transfer $5.9 million to CSE. What is the rationale for the transfer, and how will it be spent?

[Greta Bossenmaier, Chief, Communications Security Establishment]

Thank you for the question.

CSE, as you may know, has a long history of supporting the Canadian Armed Forces. We're actually very proud of our contributions to help the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces in their operations.

This is a transfer that's being asked for this year, and it will allow us to continue to support the Canadian Armed Forces in their operations.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay. What type of support to the military operations will CSE be providing?

[Greta Bossenmaier]

This would be under our foreign signals intelligence mandate, so part a of our mandate.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Pardon me?

[Greta Bossenmaier]

This would be part of our foreign signals intelligence mandate, under part a of our mandate.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay, and I'll be transferring the remainder of my time to Mr. Paul-Hus.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

You have the floor.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

The minister’s presentation mentioned an additional budget of $147.1 million for Operation Impact, but, in this document, it says $142 million.

Which of those two amounts is correct? I imagine that it is the $142 million.

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

The amount is $142 million plus $5 million for statutory, the employee benefit plan.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Okay.

You say that the $142 million are mostly going to be used to pay the salaries of regular force and reserve force members. But the salaries are already paid.

Can you explain to me how that works?

[Col Claude Rochette]

Thank you very much.

Actually, when the minister said salaries, he was talking about danger pay that our soldiers receive.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Okay. This is danger pay, and it is part of the $142 million.

[Col Claude Rochette]

Exactly.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

But surely, danger pay does not come to $142 million.

[Col Claude Rochette]

Oh, no.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Can you tell me how the major amounts are allocated? We’re talking about equipment, and I would like to know whether that includes any weapons purchased for the Iraqi army.

[Col Claude Rochette]

Of the $142 million, $25 million are payments to our soldiers.