National Defence Committee on Sept. 18th, 2025

[Scott Anderson, Conservative, Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC]

That's fair enough. I'm sorry to interrupt you.

The problem is that these are now warships. These are going to be warships. They're legitimate targets for foreign ships, but they have no defence capability that I see. Is that not a concern for the Canadian Armed Forces?

[Robert Ritchie]

The Canadian Armed Forces have a range of capabilities that serve different purposes. It's a systems approach, and when we deploy a capability, certain elements will be focused on detection and surveillance. Other ones may be effective with a kinetic capacity. Then we'll have others that are focused on the protection and sustainment of the force.

We would deploy assets in an integrated fashion.

[Scott Anderson, Conservative, Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC]

When you deploy the Coast Guard, will you then be deploying the Canadian Navy with it?

[Robert Ritchie]

I was speaking conceptually. It's not in all instances.

[Scott Anderson, Conservative, Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC]

I'm talking practically.

[Robert Ritchie]

Practically speaking, I can say that the Canadian Armed Forces will be working operationally with the Coast Guard. In certain instances, we will be deployed independently. In other instances our capabilities will be collaborative and additive, and there will be circumstances in which elements of the Department of National Defence and the Coast Guard will deploy alongside each other for integrated outcomes.

[Scott Anderson, Conservative, Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC]

Thank you.

Just to switch gears a little bit, we're talking about the lessons learned from modern symmetrical warfare. Is the Canadian military actually pivoting to incorporate some of those lessons?

Specifically, armour seems to be to modern symmetrical warfare what cavalry was to blitzkrieg. It seems to not even be operational on the Ukraine front lines at the moment. Ukraine is using it for medium-range artillery. Russia has gotten them all blown up.

Are we pivoting our forces to reflect the realities of modern symmetrical warfare?

[Ty Curran]

Part of the benefit of having our troops deployed in Europe is that we can actively benefit from the lessons learned in Ukraine. We can take that back into the force development process that we have so that we can learn those lessons and incorporate them into our training.

I'm happy to turn it over to the director of staff if there's anything to add.

[Robert Ritchie]

We're indeed monitoring, with great anticipation, technological developments in the battle space, particularly in the areas of uncrewed systems—not just in drones, but also in the maritime and subsurface domains. We're looking to capitalize on the use of artificial intelligence to move humans up the value chain and to make quicker decisions at speed and outpace the adversary.

[Scott Anderson, Conservative, Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC]

Is that both tactical and strategic drone warfare?

[Robert Ritchie]

Indeed, with the defence-industrial nexus, we see this in terms of AI at the strategic level in terms of decision advantage and at the tactical level in terms of the employment of these technologies.

[Scott Anderson, Conservative, Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC]

At the unit level, are we training tactical drone—

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

If I may, your time is over.

Mr. Watchorn, you have four minutes.

[Tim Watchorn, Liberal, Les Pays-d'en-Haut, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to continue talking about equipment for a few moments. The Government of Canada will invest heavily to acquire ships and submarines for its defence.

How will these tools be used in the Indo-Pacific?

[Robert Ritchie]

Thank you for your question.

Right now, our policy provides for a near-constant presence. We have three ships. As soon as those resources are integrated into the forces, we'll see if the policy changes, but they will give us more possibilities.

At the same time, we need to maintain Canada's and the continent's maritime defence resources with NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

[Ty Curran]

I'd like to add something.

Investments in ships and submarines are important, because our fleet continues to operate amid worsening threats. It's important to have up-to-date equipment, which can help us operate in more difficult conditions than were anticipated when the vessels were built.

[Tim Watchorn, Liberal, Les Pays-d'en-Haut, QC]

Thank you.

There are currently several conflicts in the Indo-Pacific theatre: China versus Taiwan, Myanmar versus Thailand and India versus Pakistan.

I would like to know your assessment of the most imminent risk in that theatre.

[Eric Laporte]

Thank you.

That's a very good question. You highlighted some of the conflicts and tensions in that theatre.

One region that is very important to us on the Global Affairs Canada side is the South China Sea, where there are tensions mainly between China and the Philippines, but also between China and other countries that border that sea. Every day, we see more than 200 Chinese army, coast guard and maritime militia ships in the region. Very recently, we've seen incidents where boats collide and water cannons are used.

It's a strategic location with a great likelihood of escalation, on top of the ones you mentioned.

[Tim Watchorn, Liberal, Les Pays-d'en-Haut, QC]

Thank you.

Regional forums are currently taking place in the Indo-Pacific region, such as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Do you think these meetings are productive in terms of regional co-operation?

[Eric Laporte]

Thank you for your question.

There are a number of major groups and forums in the region. The Shangri-La Dialogue is a conference, but Canada is a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes a number of countries in the region as well as outside partners. The forum's aims include advancing discussions to maintain peace and security in the region.

Canada also participates in the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus, where the Department of National Defence serves as an observer. It also promotes dialogue among all the countries in the region, as well as with other countries. These groups are useful.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

Thank you, Mr. Laporte.

We are going to our last round of this panel.

It's over to you, James, for four minutes.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Curran, you mentioned that the Canadian Coast Guard budget is now going to be allocated in its entirety under the Department of National Defence. Is that accurate?

[Ty Curran]

So that there's no confusion, the Canadian Coast Guard will remain a special operating agency under the deputy minister of defence, so it will maintain its budget independent of the Department of National Defence. What I was trying to say, perhaps poorly, was that this commitment would count towards our NATO target.

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

The NATO matrix would say the entire Coast Guard budget is part of our 2%. Is that correct?

[Ty Curran]

Yes, Mr. Chair, it is.