Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, James Bezan.
I want to take an opportunity to thank all the witnesses who are here with us today and certainly to thank all the military men and women for what they've done during this crisis.
I want to make one quick point. I know that we're short of time, we're worried and it's Friday. One concern is that I think the study and what I'm on this committee for was originally the pandemic and the Canadian Armed Forces. I know we're getting into other discussions that I know are fantastic, but because we're short of time, maybe we could narrow it down to how it's really truly affecting our forces.
My question is for Mr. Shimooka. I'll begin by saying that we had the opportunity on Monday of having his distinguished colleague here, Dr. Leuprecht. He testified before this committee that in his opinion 25% of our active armed forces were dedicated to “domestic operations”, like we saw here in Operation Laser, and that the Canadian Armed Forces response to the COVID pandemic is an ineffective use of military resources and will definitely begin to harm our readiness for international responsibilities.
I wonder if you agree or don't agree with this assessment that Canada perhaps should look at standing up and funding a dedicated section of the Canadian Armed Forces for exclusive domestic operations.