National Defence Committee on May 27th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I see a quorum.

With that, I'm inviting Minister Blair to open with his five minutes of remarks, and then we'll get into questions.

Welcome, once again, Minister Blair, to the committee. We appreciate your making the time available to us.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the kind invitation from this committee to come before you again today. I'm always appreciative of the opportunity.

Today, I am joined by Deputy Minister Bill Matthews; Vice Chief of the Defence Staff LGen Frances J. Allen; Cheri Crosby, chief financial officer; and Assistant Deputy Minister Peter Hammerschmidt. I'm looking around, and I don't see Pete with us yet. We also have Caroline Xavier, chief of the Communications Security Establishment.

Mr. Chair, I wonder if I might take just a brief moment to advise this committee that this will be the last appearance of Deputy Minister Bill Matthews, who is being moved over to the Treasury Board Secretariat.

We have a new deputy minister coming in, but I wanted to take this opportunity, because he's been ably serving me, the ministry and this committee for a considerable period of time, to acknowledge him and to say thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I think the committee would endorse those remarks and appreciate his contributions to the committee's deliberations, particularly appreciating his contributions in making sure the minister says what the minister says.

Thank you.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Those contributions have been quite extraordinary. Thank you for acknowledging that.

A number of weeks ago, the Prime Minister and I released Canada's new defence policy, “Our North, Strong and Free”, which is a renewed vision for Canada's defence. We developed this policy.

I'm here to talk to you about the main estimates. For some reason, my people are rather scrambling right now to pull that up, but I have that information in front of me. Thanks very much.

I'm pleased to join you today to provide an overview of the main estimates for the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Communications Security Establishment.

These estimates come at a rather critical time. Countries like Russia and China are challenging the rules-based international order; technological advances are enhancing the state's abilities to protect military might, and, of course, climate change is making Canada's north far more accessible. Each of these challenges has significant implications for the defence and security of our country and that of our allies and partners around the world.

We are going to meet these challenges while remaining responsible stewards of public funds. As such, we're requesting almost $30.6 billion through this year's main estimates. This represents a 15.46% increase over last year's main estimates and it's planned increases in operating funding, incremental funding for international operations, capital funding and in-service support funding, to highlight just a few of the planned expenditures.

We are also requesting just over $1 billion for the Communications Security Establishment, to further their foreign intelligence, cybersecurity and cyber mandate. These investments support the goals of Canada's new defence policy, “Our North, Strong and Free”, in defending Canada's values and global interests. I would like to provide you with an overview of some of the key items that we'll be presenting here today.

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces support peace, freedom and democracy around the world. To further these efforts, we are requesting $797 million towards the following operations: Operation Reassurance, which supports NATO's assurance and deterrence measures in central and eastern Europe; Operation Unifier, which provides military training to the armed forces of Ukraine; Operation Impact, which is helping to build the military capabilities of Iran, Jordan and Lebanon, and Operation Artemis, which provides maritime security in the western Indian Ocean.

This funding also supports the continued implementation of the Indo-Pacific strategy, and beyond these lines of efforts we are also requesting $893.5 million in grants and contributions. This money will go towards initiatives like the military training co-operation program, which provides Ukraine with additional military aid and further supports, Operation Unifier and Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy through Operation Horizon.

It will also go towards NATO programs that help us defend Canada's interests and values while contributing to international peace and security. To carry out these critical operations and defend our interests, military members must be well equipped. We are, therefore, requesting $7.2 billion to ensure that they have the right capabilities to do their jobs, including up to 16 next-generation multi-mission aircraft through the Canadian multi-mission aircraft project, up to nine CC-330 multi-role tanker support aircraft through the strategic tanker transport capability project, an initial set of the 16 F-35 advanced fighter aircraft and associated equipment services through the future fighter capability project, and 15 ships as part of the Canadian surface combatant project, among other items.

Part of this funding will also go towards enhancing and strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces' digital capabilities and maintain software, boost cybersecurity, improve data management and foster innovation. Another $613 million will allow us to advance major capital acquisition projects like the point defence missile system upgrade and the lightweight torpedo upgrade. It will allow us to acquire short-range long-term missiles and replenish CAF ammunition and explosives that were donated to Ukraine.

None of this work would be possible without our military and civilian members. They are, of course, our greatest asset. We are requesting approximately $1.1 billion towards fair compensation for CAF members as reflected in the updated military pay and collective agreement, as well as $446 million towards the long-term disability payments and life insurance plans for CAF members and approximately $1.8 billion in contributions towards the employment benefit plans for military and civilian staff.

Mr. Chair and committee members, as part of the refocusing government spending initiative that was announced in budget 2023, we have included $613 million in approved reductions in these main estimates. These reductions are intended to minimize the impact on military resident readiness so that we stay effective in the rapidly evolving defence and security domain.

Thank you, and I'll be happy to take your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Minister Blair.

Mr. Bezan, go ahead for six minutes.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, thanks for joining us today.

In this past week or so we've been hearing criticisms from our allies on Canada's failure to meet the NATO target. We heard from the Americans. Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland, has raised this concern lately, as has the Prime Minister of Estonia.

Minister, do you believe Canada should be at the 2%?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Yes, I do. I can also share with you that we're working very hard to achieve that. In fact—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

In the main estimates that are here, in the budget you've tabled and in the DPU that was just released, you have no plans on getting to 2%.

Prime Minister Trudeau was quoted in secret documents that were released to the media some time ago that Canada will never make the 2%.

Who's stopping you, as the Minister of Defence, from getting to 2%?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

If I may, I'll answer your question.

First of all, the budgetary increases that I present here in the new main estimates, plus the money that will be included in the budget when passed, which we've just introduced in Parliament, will result in an increase in our defence spending by 27% next year over this year. It brings us much closer to that 2%.

The things we have articulated in these estimates under the “Strong, Secure, Engaged” project and now in the new defence policy update, “Our North, Strong and Free”, bring us to 1.76%.

We've also indicated, Mr. Bezan, to our allies and to Canadians, that in addition to those things that are now fully funded once that budget is passed—I very much look forward to your support in getting that budget through—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Minister, you know that there's a lot in that budget that we disagree with and that we aren't going to be funding. We know that most of the funding that you had in your DPU is back-loaded for the future government. It's not going to be for this government.

You said yourself that the Canadian Armed Forces are in a death spiral. You say that we need 6,700 military housing units, yet in this budget, in these estimates and in the next year's budget that was in the DPU, there's zero funding for new military housing.

We have a retention and recruitment problem, yet one of the problems we're hearing about is that our troops are living rough. They are unhoused or they're living in tents, cars and campers, or in precarious situations that sometimes could lead to domestic violence.

Where are the new houses, and why are you back-loading the DPU onto the future government rather than dealing with it yourself right now?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

I have two things in response to that.

First of all, you recall, of course, that in 2014, when we actually committed to 2% in Wales, the next thing a Conservative government did was actually reduce defence spending below 1%. Since that time—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

I'll correct you on that, sir.

We made the commitment in 2014. It was a 10-year commitment. Guess what? That 10-year commitment ends now. You've been in government for nine years. Why aren't we hitting those targets?

When we get down to it, you guys did creative accounting—

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

This is not—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Chair, this is my time.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Hang on. This is not question period.

I'm asking the minister to try to answer your question, and then you can ask it again or defend.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

It's creative in the sense that when you committed to 2%, the very next thing a Conservative government did was reduce defence spending to its lowest amount in Canadian history—to less than 1%.

Since that time—and this is rather important, Mr. Bezan—at the end of this year, we will have more than doubled defence spending. Every single nickel of that, you voted against. I checked. Every single dollar that we added to defence spending, you reduced.

If I may answer this housing question now—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Minister, we just had a motion in front of the House last week to put a freeze on the rent increases on our own military, and you voted against that. We need to get that rolled back so we can put more money in the hands of our troops. You went ahead anyway, and you still increased funding. You still went ahead.

We know that we have military members right now who have to buy their own kit. We know that it comes out of their own pockets.

We were in Latvia last year as a committee, and we actually saw troops buying their own helmets, hearing protection and vests. It is despicable that they had to actually do that themselves.

I want to move on to talk about—

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Can I speak now, Mr. Chair?

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

We can play this game all day long.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Does the member not want to hear an answer to the housing question?

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Let's get to it, instead of the rhetoric.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Go ahead, Minister.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Just to be clear, we're working very hard in bases right across the country, with mayors and with the private sector. The Canadian Armed Forces has a great deal of property that is serviced and available for the building of military housing. We are working with the private sector and with other orders of government to utilize the value of that land to build housing for Canadian Armed Forces members. There are some extraordinary opportunities right across this country. We said right in our policy document that we are prioritizing Halifax, Toronto and Vancouver, but I can tell you I have proposals from—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

I have a minute left, Minister. Let me say—

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

—Trenton, from Petawawa, from Borden and from Esquimalt. There are many, many opportunities for us to respond very quickly to the housing challenges that they face.