National Defence Committee on Jan. 29th, 2024

[MGen Gregory Smith]

Mr. Chair, I'll start and then maybe I'll throw it over to my Global Affairs colleagues.

We have a line of communication here in Ottawa. It's with the defence attaché. I'm the guy who gets to do that. We're trying to get past just démarches, which is just speaking angrily to each other, to re-establish relationships, and we're looking at that now. How can we get to a more baseline discussion?

As you know, we have not done exercises or military co-operation with the People's Republic of China and the PLA since 2018. We're taking a look, but we have to do that with our greater partners across government.

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

I will give the rest of my time to Ms. Normandin, if there's any time left.

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

Thank you very much, Ms. Mathyssen. I'll be quick.

We know that there is a desire in the Indo-Pacific strategy to strengthen student exchanges under the investing in people component and to build ties. However, at the same time, a cap on visas for international students was recently announced. How does that cap align with the strategy?

[Amanda Strohan]

I will take that question.

Indeed the Indo-Pacific strategy foresees a number of initiatives to reinforce collaboration on academic matters, including through scholarships. The commitment under the Indo-Pacific strategy, with respect to investing in people and connecting people, is to strengthen our ability to recruit and retain high-potential students.

I can't speak specifically to the recent announcement—we have colleagues at IRCC who are able to do that—but what I can say is that the principles behind the Indo-Pacific strategy remain. We are still committed to strengthening Canada's international student program through the Indo-Pacific strategy, which commits to recruiting and retaining high-potential students. We continue to be committed to do that, and we will work with our colleagues at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to continue pursuing that.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

With that, I want to thank the witnesses for their attendance.

For the purposes of collegiality, which seems to have not gotten off to a good start so far.... On Wednesday, we have the military housing. SIRVA has been confirmed. Then, in the second hour, we deal with the report, and possibly members could talk to us about other things they might wish to do.

February 5 is also on military housing. The defence ombudsman has been confirmed, and the MFRCs have been invited.

Then we switch to the transparency report on February 7, February 12 and February 14. On February 26, we switch to consulting services.

I will say that the minister has been invited for the February 7 meeting—not confirmed but invited.

With that, witnesses, I thank you for your appearance, and I hope to see you again sooner rather than later. What we're talking about here is extraordinarily important. Even since we adjourned prior to Christmas, the entire world environment has been shaken, and I think that this committee needs to be on top of it as much as possible. I'm rather hoping that colleagues will see fit to invite you back, not just to talk about this issue but to talk about other areas of conflict around the world, because your services are being called upon more and more and I don't see a quick end to this.

Again, thank you for your service. Thank you for your appearance, and thank you for your patience.

The meeting is adjourned.