National Defence Committee on April 15th, 2024

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Actually, we've been delivering for the Canadian Armed Forces. Just in the last two years alone, we've completed contracts for more than 100 aircraft, for example, that the Royal Canadian Air Force required. That's the largest and most significant delivery of capability for our Canadian Armed Forces since the Second World War.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Can you acknowledge how much of “Strong, Secure, Engaged” has yet to be spent?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

That's a question perhaps better put to our finance people, but as an example, we've signed contracts for multi-mission aircraft, the P-8 Poseidons. They will all be delivered in 2026. That's SSE money that will be spent in total in 2026.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Okay. Let's talk lapsed funding, then. DND funding keeps lapsing, despite your specifically promising that it's not going to. Can you acknowledge that or talk about that?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Perhaps I could help you with a better understanding of what “lapsed” is. If it takes time—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Are you mansplaining?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

No, but it doesn't mean it's gone. I think we need to be clear that it doesn't mean the money just somehow disappears. If the contract can't be completed in one fiscal year and goes over our fiscal year, the department is able to lapse it and then apply it into the following fiscal year to complete that contract.

Lapsing is, I think, a reflection of sometimes how long our procurement processes and delivery processes are. Many factors could be associated with that. We could talk about them individually, if you would like—

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

How much lapsed funding has been repurposed?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Again, it's a question better asked of our finance people, but certainly in my experience the money that couldn't be spent in one fiscal year is being quickly applied into expenditures the following year as contracts come online.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Okay.

Maybe I can acknowledge a comment from, respectfully, General Eyre with regard to the $8.1 billion overall being committed by the government to defence spending over the next five years falling short of the NATO commitment. You mentioned in your opening remarks that the DPU is a comprehensive new plan, and we need to do more and we will meet the moment.

Can you address how that is meeting the moment?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

We're making very significant new investments in defence. We're spending money as efficiently and effectively as possible, given our existing procurement processes. We're also re-examining our procurement processes to make them better fit for purpose and to meet the moment, as I've said.

We're working with our allies and with industry. We've listened to them very carefully. They told us what they needed in order to hold up their end of ensuring that we can acquire, for example, the munitions and the battle-decisive ammunition that our armed forces require. We've heard them. We've budgeted the money. We're now able—we have the resources that they said they needed—to invest in their industry but also to offer them long-term contracts.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Thank you.

Also in the promises in the DPU is “We will streamline the security clearance process to reduce the time it takes for new recruits to move into their positions.” If I recall correctly, last year General Eyre suggested that the CAF has more than enough applicants. The issue is in processing; they're not being screened quickly enough.

What changes are expected to be made to be able to make this happen faster? How can we facilitate this?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

I have some great news on that. I was briefed this past week on some great work that's being done by the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence to digitize the application process. Canadians will be able to do it on their phones. That will be better for the applicant, but it also provides a digital record of the application. Therefore, it will enable us to initiate the processes far more efficiently to get those security background checks done and will enable us to move through those applications.

Frankly, if we don't go fast, we lose the opportunity, and we don't want to lose any one of those opportunities.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

More specifically then, how will this be speeding up screening work vis-à-vis security requirements? How is this going to change? Will the screening be outsourced? I have a lot of questions because there's not a lot of clarity to this.

Will other departments' security allowances transit over to the CAF? Will the requirements be lowered? Will the CAF be prioritized over other departments when it comes to processing security clearances? What's this going to look like?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

There are couple of things that I think can be very helpful there.

First of all, we understand that, when someone is coming in for basic training and we're training them how to march and to shoot, putting a uniform on them and deploying them into some pretty basic functions, they don't need the highest secret security clearance. That can come later on in the process.

Additionally, we recognize the implementation of a probationary period because one of the challenges.... We don't want to onboard somebody who might represent a risk, but if we are able to determine the level of risk before we deploy them into a sensitive area, it just makes more sense to do it in a more efficient and timely way.

One thing I want to assure Canadians—and you—is that we're not going to compromise our standards for members of the Canadian Armed Forces. We're just going to apply those standards far more efficiently so that we can onboard people who want to serve as quickly and efficiently as possible.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Ms. Kramp-Neuman.

Mr. Collins, you have five minutes.

[Chad Collins, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chairman.

Minister, welcome.

Welcome to everyone in attendance today on this very important issue.

Minister, at our last meeting I had the opportunity to highlight to committee members that the Leader of the Opposition was in Hamilton as part of his “make Canada great again” tour a couple of months ago to mark the second anniversary of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. When he was in attendance, he didn't have his “faraway foreign land” speech because there were several hundred Ukrainian members—

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Excuse me, Mr. Collins.

Can this side of the table listen?

[Chad Collins, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Yes, he didn't have his “faraway foreign land” speech because there were several hundred Ukrainian members in attendance. However, he did highlight the fact that our government has made over $4 billion in investment in Ukraine.

My question this morning is this: Can you talk about how the DPU builds upon those investments that we've already made and the investments that we have on the horizon as they relate to building capacity to continue to support Ukraine?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Yes, there are a couple of things to unpack.

Canada has made a very significant contribution to Ukraine, not just in military spending—which is, as you've said, now totalling about $4 billion—but additionally through other investments, about $9.5 billion in financial supports, which is what Ukraine said it required to keep the lights on and to keep its industries working.

One of the things we've heard very clearly is the urgent need for ammunition. One of the things that each country in the Ukraine defence contact group—of which I'm a member, as is NATO—has acknowledged is the importance of increasing our production. The Russians have significantly increased their munitions production. We have to keep pace. We've gone to our own industry, and in consultation with the military procurement industry here.... They told us that they need, first of all, an investment in new production lines and supply chains, but they also need the certainty of long-term contracts. We've now come forward with a plan, and now we've been able to provide them with certainty. We're working with Canadian industry now to increase production.

However, for Ukraine, just as an example, we know that it will take about two and a half years to actually build out those new production lines and to make those investments and begin rolling off the battle-decisive munitions that our Canadian Armed Forces and Ukraine need. In the interim, we've been working with our allies. I signed a MOU with the Czech government, for example. It's been able to acquire the required munitions for Ukraine, and we've now committed $57 million to purchase munitions from the Czech Republic so that we can deliver them to the Ukraine, not in years but in weeks and months.

[Chad Collins, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

That's terrific.

In your opening, you talked about how a greater presence in the Arctic is going to require some infrastructure upgrades. It's hard to have a strong presence without all-season roads and without having better telecommunication opportunities and capabilities.

Can you talk about the early stages of the plan and what investments we'll look at in terms of working with territories and indigenous communities with regard to upgrading infrastructure?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

As I mentioned, one thing the Canadian Armed Forces will need, if they're going to be persistently present, deployable, active and functional in the high north, is additional infrastructure. That includes such things as airport runways and facilities to store and maintain their aircraft. They'll also need accommodation and housing for the personnel deployed there, as well as medical services. We've also looked at power supply, water treatment and things like fibre optics communication, which is increasingly important. There are other very significant investments we're making in the High Arctic, such as the establishment of a new satellite station and the deployment of sensors in the north. All of that is going to require infrastructure.

Looking at what the Canadian Armed Forces need, we've also been in consultation with the northern premiers and with indigenous and Inuit communities. They're going to help us build that. They're also going to benefit from that, because it's multi-use. As I said, if we build a runway that we can land a transport plane or fighter jet on, we can also bring in medical evacuation planes. We can bring other transport planes into those northern communities. We'd have a better and stronger presence for search and rescue in those communities. There is, I think, great opportunity for mutual benefit in multi-use infrastructure in the high north.

One of the things we have also undertaken with our partners in the north is that we will work with them to make sure they have every opportunity to participate economically in that infrastructure build and that it is appropriate for their requirements as well.

[Chad Collins, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Ms. Normandin, you have two and a half minutes.