Evidence of meeting #29 for National Defence in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was know.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, Canadian Armed Forces, Department of National Defence
We do want to return to the way it used to be, where before they arrive in theatre they have gone through the manoeuvre training centre. Because of the equipment shortfalls, because of the change in structure and because of the imperative to get them in on the right equipment, we're doing it in Latvia.
It's not ideal. It's not what we want. We look forward to the point where CMTC in Wainwright, Alberta becomes the centre of excellence for collective training.
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Through you, I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here today.
Minister, we just heard a bit more about the defence industrial strategy. Historically, Canada has worked in silos with respect to research, the Canadian Armed Forces and industry. Part of the defence industrial strategy is to bring those pieces together with respect to BOREALIS and the defence innovation secure hubs. One of my colleagues across the way brought up drone capability. I know that recently we announced the launch for proposals to establish a DISH in quantum and another one on uncrewed system technologies.
Can you elaborate a bit on how this is different in terms of how we are proceeding and embracing that talent at our research-intensive universities and bringing them to the table with industry and the Canadian Armed Forces to solve some of the problems we have? Could you elaborate a bit on that and how it's different in terms of what we've been doing?
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Everything about this is different. This is the first time in Canadian history that we actually have a defence industrial strategy. We're here. We're at the starting line. We have incredible talent. There are 600 companies and 82,000 people who work full time in the sector now, and about $14.5 billion in annual revenue, but we have very specific targets that we will achieve over the decade as we implement this defence industrial strategy.
We're going to be drawing on the capabilities across the country. We know, for example, Ontario has over 35% of our defence industry employment. We know Quebec is home to about 25% of defence industry employment. We know what its specializations are. We know Atlantic Canada is home to 20% of the defence industry. We know what its specialization is. We know about western and northern Canada as well. We know where the capacity is, and that's what we began with. What are we good at doing? What can we do? What are we doing now? How do we build on this?
The idea of more advanced research in these defence innovation secure hubs is one where we can bring together the Canadian Armed Forces to disclose what it needs, and that has to be done in a fairly classified setting. We don't go off and tell the world the details of what our forces need to prosecute their responsibilities. We can bring them together with groups like the Communications Security Establishment. We'll bring together public and private researchers. We've met with our top 15 academic research universities. They're very keen to support and apply the research. I was at Waterloo university just last week, dealing with their quantum team to see how advanced their quantum research is, because this is a big part of the future. What we're going to do is pull together into these DISHs—the first of which was launched in Halifax in the Maritimes area—in a number of nodes around the country, specialized talent so that we can give rise to our Canadian technology, our commercialization, our jobs and our companies.
That's why we are so disciplined about the plan we put in place, which comes from 2,000 stakeholders and 17 countries. We spoke to 17 countries about what they do, how well it works, what didn't work and what did work, and we've reconciled all of this in a go-forward strategy that's being implemented. So far, the take-up is wonderful.
I remind people all the time—and I could use this committee's help to remind Canadians in all of our constituencies—that we cannot build here only for ourselves. Of course, we can partner with the right partners and then we can buy, but only from the right sellers with the same values.
What we can do here in defence is compete and win. We can compete and we can win anywhere in the world. What I'm seeing in this new environment we're operating in is that like-minded, mid-sized countries like Canada from all over the world are asking to work with Canadians. They want to invest here and they want to partner here, so we think this is an enormous opportunity for Canada's future.
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
With respect to the supplementary estimates, could you elaborate on the importance of this investment in terms of recruitment and retention of members of the Canadian Armed Forces?
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
We have a world-class membership in the Canadian Armed Forces. The women and men who serve—and there are a number of former members at this table—are extraordinary people. Their dedication, their commitment, their values and their willingness to put country first are breathtaking in their scope.
We are very much looking for young people to come and join us to undertake their training, to get further specialized skills and to look at contributing. What I hear from a lot of young recruits, a lot of young folks who are just coming out of basic or who are in their training to get their particular skill or vocation, is that yes, of course, the fact that we've increased salaries is important, and yes, of course, we've dealt with many of the culture challenges, which is important, but what they express the most is that they want to be part of a project that they describe as simply Canada. They want to be with Canada, supporting Canada and making Canada secure and sovereign. They also recognize the connection between what they're doing and our defence industrial base to provide them with the equipment they need.
Liberal
Conservative
Scott Anderson Conservative Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC
Thank you very much.
Minister McGuinty, you mentioned that other countries are investing in Canada. There are Canadian companies in my actual riding asking to achieve trusted partner status. They don't seem to have a way of applying. Is there some way in which they can apply?
Liberal
Liberal
Conservative
Scott Anderson Conservative Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC
Well, they can't seem to find it. Perhaps you could send that to us.
Liberal
Conservative
Scott Anderson Conservative Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC
Good. Thank you very much.
My colleague asked about Latvia and the deployment outside of Ādaži. My understanding is that the troops are not able to deploy from Ādaži, because they do not have the appropriate communication equipment and they don't have enough vehicles. All the other nations are deployed in areas of operation outside of Ādaži.
Ādaži will be the first point of contact if the Russians attack—or, I should say, when the Russians attack—but we can't deploy outside it. Is this going to be remedied soon?
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
It's certainly the intention to remedy this as quickly as we can and get the equipment we need there. That's why we're moving so quickly. I'll give you an example. Just last week, we ordered 69,000 rifles two and a half years ahead of schedule.
Conservative
Scott Anderson Conservative Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC
That's excellent. That has nothing to do with the question I asked, however.
Conservative
Scott Anderson Conservative Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC
I mean, we have troops in a war, in a theatre, who were sent there untrained. Hopefully, they're trained by now. They're supposed to pass evaluation by NATO. But they're not equipped to operate there. Is this going to be addressed soon—like, immediately?
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
We're moving as quickly as we can to get the equipment that people on the ground need.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
Thank you.
Minister McGuinty, thank you for appearing before us today. I think Canadians everywhere are looking forward to the efforts to strengthen our defence and strengthen our sovereignty, and also the positive impact economically as a result of the new investments being made. Congratulations on that score as well.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
I'll suspend for the moment so that we can get into our second round.
[The meeting was suspended at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 25]
[The meeting resumed at 4:09 p.m., Wednesday, April 15]
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
Welcome back to meeting number 29 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence, which first started on Wednesday, March 25, and ended prematurely due to a technical issue.
The sole purpose of this resumption is to adjourn the meeting so that the committee can continue its work, which will take place in this very room in just a few minutes. Before I proceed, I wish to test the interpretation.