National Defence Committee on May 6th, 2026

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to go back to some of the comments that General Simoneau just made.

There is a memo out there from the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School. One of the recommendations is based upon the lowering of standards on the aptitude test. They're saying that there needs to be a re-establishment of some form of aptitude testing during the recruiting process. It's saying that there are probably downstream impacts on training.

I'm hearing anecdotal evidence from people in places like Gagetown that the recruits showing up are not at the same standard and quality that we've had in the past. We see that more are getting released on mental health and other physical shortcomings because of the lowering of the standard. Based upon this report that came out that's quite concerning, we want to make sure we continue recruiting the best of the best, putting them through and putting together a military that is strong.

We're hearing stories that one platoon had over a 50% failure rate. We're hearing stories of racism and misogyny, things that we're trying to change in the culture of the Canadian Armed Forces, to get away from the problems that we've experienced in the past. It sounds like we might be going backwards.

I gave notice on Friday, May 1. I want to move:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Standing Committee on National Defence undertake a study of six meetings regarding the Canadian Armed Forces recruitment and training programs, specifically looking at the changes outlined in the 27 January 2026 memo titled “Initial Observations – Impact of Changes to CAF Recruiting Policies at Basic Training Over 2025”, that the committee invite the Minister of National Defence, the Chief of the Defence Staff, the Commandant of the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School, the Chief of Military Personnel, and other expert witnesses; and that the committee report its findings to the House.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

The motion has been put forward for a debate.

Monsieur Malette, it's over to you.

[Chris Malette, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I have an amendment to the motion. It is that the motion be amended by (a) replacing the word “six” by the word “four”; (b) replacing the words after “training programs” and before “that the committee” with the following: “given that the Canadian Armed Forces reached a 30 year high in recruitment this year”; (c) replacing the words after “the committee invite” and before “and other experts” by the following: “the relevant officials from the Department of National Defence”; and (d) adding after the words “to the House” the following: “and that pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request a government response.”

I have copies of the amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

The copies are being circulated.

Are they in both English and French?

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

That's what I wanted to ask you, Mr. Chair. Is it available in both official languages?

[Chris Malette, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

They're in both official languages.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

Okay. We'll get that distributed.

Do you want to read out the actual...?

[Chris Malette, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

How the motion would read?

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

We'll suspend the original motion.

We're going now into the amendment. We're going to debate—

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

We should deal with one amendment at a time. It's rather—

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

That's why I'm asking him to read it. Read the amended motion.

[Chris Malette, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

All right. I will read the actual amended motion.

It would say, “That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Standing Committee on National Defence undertake a study of four meetings regarding the Canadian Armed Forces recruitment and training programs, given that the Canadian Armed Forces reached a 30-year high in recruitment this year; that the committee invite the relevant officials from the Department of National Defence and other expert witnesses; that the committee report its findings to the House; and pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request a government response.”

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

Mr. Bezan.

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

I believe that part (b) changes the intent of the motion and should be ruled out of order.

In the original motion, we're specifically talking about the memo that is titled “Initial Observations - Impact of Changes to CAF Recruiting Policies at Basic Training Over 2025”, and by removing that you remove the intent of the study. Changing that to add in some sloganeering from the Liberals changes the intent of the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

This is obviously around recruitment. The amendment has been put forward and I need further debate. I find that the ruling being requested, in terms of intent, which would be the case.... I believe the intent still exists with the amendment made, because it's still requesting the standing order to review the recruitment and the training programs. That has remained, as far as I can tell.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to have the floor.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

I have Mr. Savard-Tremblay and then Mr. Kibble.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

I'm not asking for it for right now. I'll eventually manage to decipher the text. However, when I receive the text like this, it's extremely complicated.

In the future, would it be possible to have a version that includes the new wording and that keeps the track changes in the old version? It would be much easier to understand. This is a real puzzle.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

Does the French version not have track changes available?

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

We just have the amendments. We'll need to take the time to incorporate them into the old motion. It's the same thing in English.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

We have a request to illustrate the track changes of the motion in both languages.

Is that available, Mr. Malette?

[Chris Malette, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

I do not have those at my disposal. I can ask staff. One moment, please....

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

I have Mr. Kibble up, but I think we're now—

[Chris Malette, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Mr. Chair, if we could suspend for one minute, I will be able to get that.

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

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.