Evidence of meeting #74 for National Defence in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was going.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Patrick Finn  Assistant Deputy Minister, Materiel, Department of National Defence
Jody Thomas  Deputy Minister, Department of National Defence
Charles Lamarre  Commander, Military Personnel Command, Department of National Defence
Alain Parent  Acting Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, Department of National Defence
Claude Rochette  Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Deputy Minister, Finance, Department of National Defence
Elizabeth Van Allen  Assistant Deputy Minister, Infrastructure and Environment, Department of National Defence
Greta Bossenmaier  Chief, Communications Security Establishment, Department of National Defence

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

David Yurdiga Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB

Yes.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC

—briefs on the joint supply ships, how they operate? I just want to make sure.

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

David Yurdiga Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB

Evaluations.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC

Evaluations on....

4:20 p.m.

LGen Alain Parent

Evaluation on the procurement or evaluation of what they're going to do?

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC

I just want to make sure I get it correct. Are you talking about the evaluations of the defence policy review on what was needed, the number, or are we talking about how they operate?

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

David Yurdiga Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB

How they're performing. Obviously, there's a gap right now.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC

Right now, we don't have the joint supply ships. They're in the process of being built. Right now, the current system that we have is we had to outsource some of our support or do smart scheduling. One of them was we worked with Chile and Spain to provide that support. That's the reason why, when we looked at the scheduling for the two joint supply ships, we felt that we needed an interim capability to be filled and hence it's why we went with this option that Davie was awarded the contract for.

I'm happy to provide more information on that piece of it.

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

David Yurdiga Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB

Thank you.

I'll go to my next question. On February 23, 2017, in the House of Commons, you stated that we will not be buying used aircraft for our air force. Is this statement true?

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC

On that note, what we're committed to doing is we are committed to making sure that we replace our fighters. We committed in a program, a three-step program, to do this. There are three parts to it. One was to have a full competition to make sure that we picked the right aircraft. Part of the defence policy review that we did, the analysis that we conducted, was that we cannot risk manage our NORAD and NATO requirements simultaneously. That's the reason the number 65 that we had from the previous government wasn't going to be enough. We have increased it to 88. Eighty-eight, that's the number we'll be competing for.

In addition to that, the other step is also to invest in the legacy fleet, to manage that transition period. But to give us that ultimate assurance, we need to fill the intercapability gap. We were, at that time, on a path towards working with the U.S. government on an option to look at the Super Hornet. Because of Boeing's action to take an unprecedented approach on attacking our aerospace sector, we felt that this was unacceptable. Hence, that's the reason we started looking at other options.

Yes, right now, because of the situation that changed—we can't allow our aerospace sector and our jobs to be undermined by a U.S. company—we had to look at other options. That's the reason I and the department are currently looking at other options with Australia.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Stephen Fuhr

That's your time, Mr. Yurdiga.

I'm going to give the floor to Mr. Robillard.

November 29th, 2017 / 4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Mr. Minister.

Let me also welcome the other witnesses.

The appropriations to be voted on include funds for the military personnel management capability transformation project. Can you give us more information on the way in which you see those funds being used, and what the transformation project is all about? Are the funds going to provide better service in managing the files of military personnel?

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC

Thank you very much for the question.

When it comes to looking after our personnel, we are not only putting our money into it, but we're also making sure our policies reflect that. Hence, that's the reason we requested $1.8 million in vote 5 of the statutory funding for a new military...management of our personnel, a new project. I'll let the general talk more about that.

What we want to do in this case.... It's not just about putting the money in the right place. Managing our people—making sure their careers are managed, their health is looked after, building their resiliency—does require, when you have that many people, having a really good system in place. We felt we needed to modernize our system. General Lamarre can talk in more detail about the system.

4:25 p.m.

LGen Charles Lamarre

Thank you, Mr. Minister.

The funds will be used to automate the system. The automation is already under way, and it will get us to a higher level. More specifically, the beneficiaries will be the members of the reserve.

At the moment, we are moving forward to make sure that the two pay systems we have at the moment, one for the reserve and one for the regular forces, are harmonized, so that there are no interruptions or differences between the two systems.

People are receiving the pay to which they are entitled, but this will simplify the way in which that happens. In the long term, the main advantage will be to simplify the way in which members of the Canadian Armed Forces can make a transition between the regular forces and the reserve.

Our intent is to make the path much simpler for all members of the Canadian Armed Forces, including the ability to have a full-time career or a part-time one, and to allow a break in their service from time to time, so that they can do the other things they want to do with their lives.

Modernizing the system by computerizing personnel management gives us more flexibility to do that.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC

Thank you.

Among the transfers is one for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the Resolute Bay facility and for related logistics support to the Canadian Forces Arctic Training Centre.

Could you tell us more about the benefits our forces will get from maintaining our facilities at Resolute Bay?

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC

I think it goes without saying how important is the ability of the Canadian Armed Forces to operate in the Arctic. With the changes, and the changes in new technology, we need to make sure our personnel have the right training, because it really does take specialized training.

I had the privilege of working with a lot of the rangers. You get to see the difficulty that the Arctic faces. To make sure we have the right capability and our people are trained up to that level, we need that training centre. That's what this Resolute Bay training centre does. That's the reason we're putting those investments in there, to make sure our personnel always stay on the cutting edge, especially as we put greater emphasis on the Arctic.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC

Thank you.

Do I still have some time?

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Stephen Fuhr

You have 50 seconds for a question and response.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC

I'll pass it on to my colleague.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON

I'm sorry, is it 50 seconds, Mr. Chair?

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Stephen Fuhr

It's 40.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON

Thank you very much.

Minister, could you tell the committee your reaction to yesterday's announcement?

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC

I think all of us, and Canadians across the country....

For people who wanted to put the uniform on to serve their country, who wanted to make a difference, who signed on the dotted line, who were willing to give up their lives for their country, who were taught about fighting the enemies of the country, to one day be told, “No, you are the enemy”, no apology can take away the hurt, the guilt that was created for those people, but this is a start. The healing started yesterday. We still have a lot of work to do. We have to look at every single individual, and not just by their files, but by who they are, what they went through, to make sure we give that confidence back.

This is a start, but we have a lot of work to do.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON

Thank you very much.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Stephen Fuhr

Thank you.

Ms. Gallant.