Thank you, Madam Chair.
In the past we did have regular briefings on ongoing missions. We got away from that in the last four years. As committee members, we're better informed. The best way to get the information is first-hand from the minister.
Our forces are suffering from a very poor recruitment phase right now. We're short of pilots. We're short of people in almost all the careers. Opening up the committee to the public so they can hear first-hand what the minister has to say about the ongoing operations can attract people to the forces, rather than their having to read everything through the lens of a reporter. We are the committee on national defence. We should have the right to hear first-hand what is going on, recognizing that what we're listening to is not secret or classified. We're getting the basics so we know what's going on with our troops in our own country.