National Defence Committee on Sept. 26th, 2024

[Gen Jennie Carignan]

Disinformation, Mr. Chair, is such a common issue that all democracies have to deal with in the current situation. The various exchanges I've had with our allied colleagues from NATO, and even in the Indo-Pacific over the last few weeks, were very informative in terms of how similarly we are dealing with those issues.

I think the seeding of that false information has a direct effect on the trust in our institutions and how people will react to or support very important, specific issues, such as Ukraine. It's important to raise awareness of our values and what they mean, and then keep that information at the forefront to counterbalance the misinformation that is out there.

There will not be one single thing that will address the misinformation; it will be the many tools at our disposal, because we can use the same technology and we can use the same means to ensure that our narrative, our messages and our values transpire through the same methodologies.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Mr. Collins.

Madame Normandin, you have two and a half minutes.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

General Carignan, you referred to the lack of recruitment and the shortage of personnel in certain trades.

I would like to hear your thoughts on priorities. Which trades are most urgently in need of recruitment right now?

[Gen Jennie Carignan]

Thank you for the question.

I'm thinking in particular of the naval trades. For example, we have a major need for marine technicians so that we can deploy our ships for various operations. For many technical trades, we have a significant need for personnel for both the air force and the army.

Often, people are more familiar with our operational trades. However, there are currently 107 trades in the Canadian Forces. We have a great need for personnel in many of our technical trades.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you.

Are any clear strategies in place to recruit and focus on specific target groups?

[Gen Jennie Carignan]

Mr. Chair, our recruitment services are quite active in various technical schools and communities where we see fewer people joining the forces.

Our services are currently active in certain locations and institutions to promote the trades in the forces that require personnel.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You have 20 seconds.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I would have liked to talk about transfers from the reserve forces to the regular forces. Unfortunately, I won't have time to get an answer.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you very much.

Madame Mathyssen, you have around two and a half minutes.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

I'll pick up on my question about that five-year review.

We commit that the review will be fulsome. It will be what survivors are calling for: having access to the information and documentation they need—the things they have been asking for, for quite some time.

[Gen Jennie Carignan]

I think a review is key to our program. A review, for us, is an opportunity to see whether our initiatives are actually providing the results and outcomes we want to see. It provides us, as well, with feedback on what it is that we need to keep doing and what it is that we need to be improving.

I'm absolutely behind it. I fully support the review taking place.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Can you go through the work going into that review or leading up to it?

[Gen Jennie Carignan]

We will need, first of all, to ensure our personnel are available to go over the various areas for review. It's about designing the work plan ahead in terms of interaction, and providing all the documentation and engagement required to ensure that the review has all the information it needs.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Just quickly, there's also been a study at this committee about contracting out and the overreliance upon contracting. There have been decades-long cuts to the salary or wage envelopes, which have increased contracting out.

Can you talk about what steps you're taking to work with base commanders—specifically Canadian Forces health services and real property operations—to reverse this trend toward privatization?

[Gen Jennie Carignan]

I think, for us, it's always about reaching out to the type of personnel we need to conduct different types of tasks. In cases where we need subject matter expertise that we don't have, we reach out to a specific type of consultant or contractor to do the work. In other cases, it's work done by.... It's continuous, regular and permanent. Then we have a tendency to go to our public service. If it's typically military, we would turn towards....

Again, depending on the requirement and type of work, we use the proper means to deliver specific outcomes or results.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Ms. Mathyssen.

Mrs. Gallant, you have five minutes.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Certainly, the $345,000 the government spent on the Russian propaganda film Russians at War would have been better suited to getting equipment for our troops.

My questions will be for General Carignan.

What does “strategic recruitment” mean? Does it mean there are still quotas?

[Gen Jennie Carignan]

I'm not sure that I understand what “strategic recruitment” is.

For me, it's recruitment, pure and simple. We need to get our numbers back up to full strength, and we are aiming towards achieving our targets this year. If we can get beyond those, we will absolutely look at doing that as well. We have targets and anticipated numbers that we are looking at reaching. Again, depending on who is showing up with what qualifications and potential.... We are going to be recruiting across the full spectrum of Canadian diversity.

This is basically what we are looking at.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

What are the targets?

[Gen Jennie Carignan]

For example, we are looking at achieving a 25% target in terms of women as part of our forces. We are looking at a global goal of 11.8% visible minorities and 3.5% indigenous people. We want to make sure, again, that we have a representation of all Canadians as part of our forces.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Do these quotas apply per trade?

[Gen Jennie Carignan]

No. These are the total numbers we are aiming for. Again, we want to give people a choice in terms of where they think they can best contribute to our forces.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

How will you confront the growing, unexpected threats posed by state actors such as Russia, China and Iran, and the non-state actors that persistently conduct cyber-attacks against our infrastructure, institutions and military?

[Gen Jennie Carignan]

After this committee, we will be officially standing up our cyber-command. Over the past 10 years, we have been growing this capability, and we are very proud of the work that has been achieved so far. Our cyber-capabilities have been contributed in many places—in Ukraine as well. We are extremely proud of the capacity we have been standing up and growing over the past 10 years.

Today, we will be officially standing up the command.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

How many people will there be in that command? What is the number of soldiers?