Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the Standing Committee on National Defence.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the supplementary estimates (C) for the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Communications Security Establishment.
Last month, when I was here to highlight my mandate letter commitments, I shared with you some of our ongoing efforts within our organization to defend Canada, protect North America, and strengthen our contributions to NATO.
The crisis in Ukraine over the past month has underscored the importance of this work and of upholding Canada's military presence across the globe. I had the opportunity to reaffirm and further discuss Canada's commitments last week, when I joined my counterparts from all 30 NATO countries during the extraordinary defence ministers' meeting in Brussels.
In the face of our biggest challenges, we must remain engaged internationally with our allies and partners in the name of peace, security, freedom and, of course, democracy, while also safeguarding our own borders and people.
We recognize that the people who serve in the Canadian Armed Forces are the most valuable and essential element of Canada's defence. I want to thank, in particular—