Evidence of meeting #3 for National Defence in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was make.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
The Canadian Armed Forces Reserve Force, when we conducted our defence policy review—
Can you hear the interpretation?
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
I want to make sure that you have the interpretation on.
Are you properly set up for it?
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I have already activated the interpretation channel toward French, but there seem to be no interpretation. It appears to be now resolved.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
Okay.
Thank you very much for the question on the reserves.
When we conducted our defence policy review with Canadians, 50% of the conversation was about the need to support the reserves. One of the most important things we did was to bring their pay in line. The reserves before were not paid at the same level as the regular force. The base pay was brought up to the same level as the regular force's, and now reservists are paid at the same level.
We also wanted to look at improving their infrastructure. Just over a year ago, we announced $250 million for reserve infrastructure across the country. That was something that I announced in Montreal. We also have additional money for the procurement of equipment.
As we look at aligning their pay, their infrastructure and their support, one of the things that the Canadian Armed Forces has also done is to look at bringing back some of the tasks that the reserves used to do. For example, bringing in a task like mortar platoons, and making sure that the reserves have the ability to go out—
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Madam Chair, there are unfortunately minor interpretation issues.
11:30 a.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Michael MacPherson
Actually, Minister Sajjan, please approach your laptop a little bit closer. The interpreters are having difficulty hearing you clearly.
11:30 a.m.
The Clerk
If you move it a little bit closer to your laptop, that should help.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
Great. Okay.
How is this? Good.
I'll continue.
We're absolutely committed, not only to supporting the reserves but also to making sure that they have the appropriate training, equipment and tasks to be better supported. The reserves also provide tremendous support when it comes to domestic operations, whether it's floods or fires.
I'll pass it over to the vice chief for any comment.
During Operation Laser we activated the reserves or offered up anybody who wanted to be on full-time employment. Thousands of them answered the call, and they were ready to provide support for COVID.
Vice Chief, do you have any more comments about the reserves?
11:30 a.m.
Lieutenant-General Mike Rouleau Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, Department of National Defence
Thank you, Minister.
I would just add that it is true that the reserves form an integral part of any operation that we do in a domestic context. It was true for Operation Laser and true for operations before that. The nature and character of conflict is adapting, so General MacKenzie is looking carefully at the strategy relative to the money for the reserves in “Strong, Secure, Engaged” to make sure that we have a fit-for-purpose plan to spend those funds.
That's all I have, Minister. Thank you.
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
My initial question was about the government recruitment objective. I know that the idea was to increase the staff by about 21.5% by 2027. What are the current figures? Does the pandemic have a negative impact on recruitment?
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
The recruiting is continually ongoing, and I'll let the vice answer this. Obviously, we did have a slowdown initially in our recruiting and also in our training, but the military has now worked very hard to make sure that we start the training in an appropriate COVID environment.
Vice, do you want to take that?
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you very much.
Am I wrong in saying that the distance between population pools in rural areas and reserve units is a determining factor in recruitment? Would you agree with that? Could you elaborate?
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
I have a bit of experience with this. It depends on the region in Canada. For example, distance is always dependent on the type of transportation corridor structures that provinces have in those cities.
Yes, obviously distance does play a role, but having said so, I'll say that there are many units in rural communities that recruit from a longer distance, whether it's in Quebec or here in British Columbia.
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
According to the recruitment plan, do you prioritize increasing the staff in existing infrastructure or are you hoping to create new reserve units?
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
On what we're doing right now when it comes to the reserves, I have a study currently going on across the country to determine where we are going to make the appropriate investment. We need to increase the size of the reserves, but we also need to focus on retention.
One of the things that's extremely important—and I've said this from the beginning—is that we're going to make investments in areas where the demographics can actually support the recruitment, not just for the short term but for the long term as well. We need to do a lot more work on this, but we need to look at the reserves very differently than we have done in the past. Those types of investments will be made based on, as you stated, population density and where we can actually recruit the members.
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I will ask a quick question.
It appears that a number of brigades are currently decreasing their recruitment quotas. Is that the case?
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
Harjit S. Sajjan Liberal Vancouver South, BC
I don't know the exact numbers on how it's being done, but one thing I can assure you is that as the Minister of National Defence, I look at the reserves very closely, and there are certain briefings that I get on a regular basis when it comes to the reserves—on their infrastructure, their equipment—because I want to make sure that they get the appropriate support. There will be decisions made across Canada based on where the numbers are of each unit, because every unit has a certain mission task. Within a mission task, they look at the number of people they have. They have to make decisions based on that.
It's difficult to say “give me an exact answer exactly where that's happening”, but one thing I can assure you of is that in its totality, we are actually increasing the size of the reserves. The one thing I do want to note is that we are moving forward, given this pandemic, in looking at what type of role the reserves can play.
