Evidence of meeting #3 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 nato.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
That would be a good idea.
I imagine, Mr. Chair, that you're going to tell me I'm out of time.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
I'm surprised, but that's fine, don't worry. More often, my challenge is to ask a question that I could get an answer to within a minute.
What I understand from your comments is that checks are done at the borders, but you're not able to tell us how they are done.
I do know, however, that there are all kinds of ways to send things in the mail. As an individual, I sometimes order things and find that the message written on the envelope to me, as an importer, is different from the message written by the exporter. There are all kinds of ways of going about it. For example, some shipped items are declared as gifts, which puts them in a different shipment category.
Do you think there are a lot of goods that are slipping through the cracks and could pose a real danger to our security from the People's Liberation Army?
Executive Director, Defence and Security Relations, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Thank you for your question.
Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to answer it. I'm sorry.
Deputy Director General, International Security Policy, Department of National Defence
Mr. Chair, if I may, I would like to add something.
Earlier, we talked about hybrid threats. We need to respond in a coordinated way to these threats. It's not just the CBSA's responsibility; we need information from other departments as well. We absolutely have to notify the other departments and the public about these threats, because they crop up in all our investigations. We need to coordinate our response to threats, and the threat from exports is just one among many.
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
Thank you very much to the witnesses. I appreciate your candour, your discussions and your further elaboration on the issues that are concerning not just this to committee, but to Canadians and those watching. We recognize that the work our armed forces do is exceptional, and we really appreciate your service. We will continue among ourselves to try to support the efforts of our armed forces.
Folks, our next meeting is going to be on either Tuesday or Thursday. I'm trying to arrange for the ombudsman to come on Tuesday to make up for the fact that the Auditor General won't be available under the circumstances.
I'm going to adjourn, with your permission, so that we can move into an in camera subcommittee meeting to determine our priorities as we go forward.
With that, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your service and your participation today.
The meeting is adjourned.