National Defence Committee on April 25th, 2022

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you to both of you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Again, we've had an outstanding panel. We particularly appreciate Dr. Cowan and Dr. Cormier and their thoughtful interventions and contribution to our study.

We'll let you go at this point.

Colleagues, please hang on before I adjourn.

We had General Eyre coming on Wednesday. He's told us that he's travelling with the minister and is not available.

We still have a full panel of four witnesses. That would end our commitment, and we will be out of witnesses at that point. I need guidance from you as to whether that's the end of this particular study and we start on the aid to civil authority study, or whether we ask General Eyre for another opportunity to talk to him. These are the dilemmas we are in.

On Monday, we need to have committee time to talk about a variety of committee issues for at least an hour, and/or start the study on aid to civil authority, or continue on with this study. Please indicate your preference to me at some point.

Cheryl.

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

CDS Eyre is helpful in anything we're doing, no matter what study we're in. When he's able to be here, we will maximize his presence with whatever we have at hand.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you for that.

Kerry-Lynne.

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

My thought was that we should ask the CDS if maybe he could be here on Monday, as he can't be here on Wednesday, and for some of the discussions we were planning to have on Monday, perhaps we could use some of that time on Wednesday.

I realize you won't have an answer for that right now, Chair. However, it seems that, on the crucial issue of retention and recruitment, we should hear from the CDS as to what his plans are and how he sees his role in facilitating that, if possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Yes. We'll try to recruit General Eyre for Monday.

Christine.

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

Like Ms. Gallant, I feel it's always helpful to have the chief of the defence staff appear before the committee. We can use his time to ask him a variety of questions, as we've done in the past. If he comes here to testify about additional funding, we could ask him about retention, or we could ask him about our next study, depending on what information we want. His testimony would be helpful for all of our studies.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

It's hard to imagine leaving the retention and recruitment study without, if you will, the head guy of the organization, so yes, I tend to agree with that.

Bryan.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Of course, in an ideal world, if we could get the CDS at a later date, that's great. I just don't want to lose the day.

We are tight in terms of timeline and what we have left to accomplish in this committee before the summer. If you look at the lineup of people the defence department has suggested could come on Wednesday, these are very capable subject matter experts—generals. I'm sure we could get a lot from them.

My recommendation is that we move ahead on Wednesday's meeting. If we can bring General Eyre in at a later date, great, but I wouldn't suggest delaying the study.

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

I understand the role of the parliamentary secretary. I understand that Bryan is fulfilling that role, but the CDS—

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

With respect, those are all subject matter experts—

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

Excuse me, I'm speaking. The chair recognized me.

With respect, the CDS has a central role. He has the main role. All we're asking is to see.... He was supposed to be here on Wednesday, and the minister's travel plans came up very quickly, in fact after close of business on Friday. The importance of trying to hear from the CDS I don't think can be underestimated. If we're going to start asking questions about other things as well, and the budget, putting it all together, we're going to need more than an hour of his time, which is all I was really speaking to.

Thank you for letting me have the floor, as I was recognized by the chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Good. Thanks, all the way around.

If in fact we're not able to arrange anything on Monday, I will need witnesses, either on retention recruitment or on the aid to civil authority study.

Cheryl.

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

I understand that the subcommittee met. Would you care to share the conclusions drawn on travel?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

We didn't draw any conclusions, so there's really, at this point, nothing to share. It's quarter to six, and I don't want to hold people in a public forum and talk about it, to be candid with you. We did have a very constructive meeting. We're narrowing ourselves down to a point.

With that folks, I appreciate your patience. The meeting's adjourned.