National Defence Committee on March 23rd, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I call this meeting to order.

I appreciate everyone's attendance. I particularly appreciate that the minister came in early. It's a good example to your colleagues, may I say.

The minister has a hard stop at 4:30. I'm going to ask for her opening five-minute statement, and then we will follow our usual questioning order.

With that, Minister Anand, thank you for your prompt attendance. I think I speak for the committee when I say that I particularly thank you for all of your incredible work in the past few weeks and months. Thank you, again. I look forward to what you have to say.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

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—

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Excuse me, Minister. I apologize.

Apparently, there are some hissing sounds in your microphone. I'm not quite sure what advice to give other than to, perhaps, push it up a bit. Is it, as they say, at your moustache line? You don't have one. Okay. Let's—

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I was just going to say that I hope this isn't too loud.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

No, I think that's good. Is that good with everybody else?

Thank you. Please continue.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

What I wanted to say was that the Canadian Armed Forces are the most valuable and essential aspects of Canada's defence.

Today is an important day, because we actually have Canadian Armed Forces members en route to Latvia from Valcartier. They are travelling as part of Operation Reassurance, and I want to wish them well.

Your country thanks you, and I also thank you.

The strength of our armed forces comes down to the well-being of those who serve in them. All that we do, from procurement to health care to culture change, must be focused on the people who put service before self, the members of our armed forces.

These priorities are reflected in the $673 million we are requesting in these estimates, which is what I'm here to discuss today.

With this funding, we will maintain our international commitments, make further investments in our Canadian Armed Forces, accelerate our culture change efforts and strengthen our physical and digital footprint across the country.

I'd like to talk a little bit more about each of those areas today.

Our efforts on the world stage are only possible because of our skilled and dedicated Canadian Armed Forces personnel and the civilian personnel who support them in their essential duties.

Everywhere I go, in Canada and around the world, people say they want more Canadian Armed Forces. They want more Canada. This is the reality, and it is one of the reasons we need to invest in our people. We are only as strong as the people who come forward to wear a military uniform.

We know our people are at their best when we work to ensure their success and their well-being; where they are well supported throughout their entire careers; where they receive fair compensation for their work; and where they feel safe, respected and protected every single day. Simply put, our armed forces need to know that Canadians and the government have their back.

As we have seen during the COVID‑19 pandemic, and as we see regularly during natural disasters, our Armed Forces are there when we need them. We need to be there when they need us.

To that end, we are requesting $108 million to expand long-term disability and life insurance coverage for CAF members; $25.6 million towards the CAF health care plan; $8.5 million to increase compensation for certain occupations within the CAF, such as pilots, special operations forces and search and rescue technicians; $6.7 million towards the restorative engagement portion of the DND-CAF sexual misconduct class action settlement; and $4.5 million as well as $3.8 million to address gender-based violence and expand the reach and service of the sexual misconduct response centre.

To touch briefly on our engagement in the world, and to ensure we maintain our much-needed presence in the world, we are requesting funding for several ongoing CAF missions, including $27 million for Operation Unifier in Ukraine, $65 million for Operation Reassurance in eastern and central Europe, $129 million for Operation Impact in the Middle East, and $5.6 million for peace support operations in Africa.

We are also requesting $103 million to support the NATO Readiness Initiative.

In the face of global uncertainty, we must maintain strong relationships with our allies and like-minded partners.

Mr. Chair, to conclude, it's no secret that our organization is facing challenges within our ranks and in our efforts to safeguard our country while remaining engaged abroad.

The funding requested in these supplementary estimates (C) covers a wide range of priorities, given these challenges.

By approving these requests, we will ensure that our people in uniform remain well positioned, well supported and well equipped in a time of incredible change and uncertainty.

Thank you. Meegwetch. I look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Minister.

With that, we will go to our six-minute round.

My notes say that it's Ms. Findlay with Mr. Doherty. How you divide your time is up to you.

I'll go to Ms. Findlay first.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We'll divide it half and half, basically. That's the equitable way to do it.

Thank you for being here with us, Minister. We very much appreciate it.

We have a few questions.

Last week, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that Canadians are convenors and “not a military power”. Do you hold with your colleague's view that we are not a military power, that we're just convenors, and therefore that military spending is not a priority?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I want to begin by thanking the Canadian Armed Forces for their historic and ongoing service to this country. The reality is that our Canadian Armed Forces have consistently stepped up to serve our country. Whether it is in long-term care homes in COVID-19, fighting forest fires and floods in Canada, or assisting with the evacuation from Afghanistan or with Operation Reassurance and occupying NATO's eastern flank in support of the deterrence and defence posture of NATO, our Canadian Armed Forces have always been there for Canada. We must be there for them as well.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

I appreciate that, Minister, and I appreciate those statements. It's good to hear.

If this government wants to help the people of Ukraine, what is stopping Canada from buying Stinger and Javelin missiles on the open market and sending them to Ukraine? Why aren't we doing that now?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I want to be clear that we have announced five tranches of support for Ukraine in the military area, consisting of anti-tank weapons, rocket launchers, hand grenades, sniper rifles, ammunition and cameras for drones. We have also, of course, trained 33,000 members of the Ukrainian army, including 2,000 members of the Ukrainian national guard.

Your question goes to what else we can do. I want to assure this committee and all Canadians that we are doing whatever we can to assist Ukrainian soldiers at this time, including exploring the possibility of procurements from third party suppliers, as well as liaising with our international partners to contribute to efforts to support Ukrainian soldiers in a bilateral way. We will have more—

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

I'm sorry. I have very limited time with you.

We also have surplus equipment in terms of Bisons, Coyotes and TLAVs. Are any steps being taken to send them to Ukraine to support the forces there, including as ambulances?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As I said, we are exploring every opportunity and possibility to provide support to Ukraine. In the case of the cameras for drones that I mentioned, we were able [Technical difficulty—Editor] matter of three days to make sure we had those cameras in place for Ukraine. The items that you mentioned in your question are important to us, and we will continue to explore them.

Thank you.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Thank you.

I'll hand it over to my colleague, Mr. Doherty.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Thank you.

Thank you, Minister.

If NATO engages in war with Russia, is CAF ready to respond, and if so, how and to what extent?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

CAF and the Canadian government are in constant communication with NATO. We have made a series of pledges, including 3,400 Canadian Armed Forces members being at the ready in case they are called up by NATO. In fact, the frigate HMCS Halifax, which left Halifax on the weekend, is part of the NATO contribution that Canada is making.

The answer is yes, Canada is ready to assist when called upon.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Minister, last year you failed to spend $1.2 billion. Is that correct?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Could you be more specific with regard to the item you're referencing?

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

You can't answer that. That's okay.

Do you know that the combat system has been declared “for U.S. eyes only”, and all Canadians working on the combat system have been fired?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I am interested in your further explanation of which combat system you're referring to.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Minister, do you know that all maintenance on the combat systems will be done in the United States?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I will ask my deputy minister if he could respond to this question.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Maybe Mr. Doherty could help by being specific about what combat system he is referring to.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Minister, the government's future surface combatant program has grown in cost. It's gone from $60 billion to an estimated $100 billion. Has the government given any thought to an off-the-shelf foreign purchase?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As part of Strong, Secure, Engaged, we are continuing to proceed with our planned procurements, including the procurement of 15 surface combatants. We will begin construction of the first ship in the 2024 time frame. The anticipated delivery will be in the early 2030s.

Thank you.