Mr. Chairman, I would like to use my time tonight, however long it is, to make comments and ask questions based on my own experience as the member of parliament for Dartmouth and as the representative of thousands of military personnel and their families.
I have enormous respect for the military and their commitment to this great country. It is in that spirit that I will ask the minister to address some central planning and priority issues which will have a profound effect on my constituents.
I would like to start by talking about the fact we are all aware of: our military resources are overstretched and our missions are under-resourced. In the national defence 2002-03 estimates report, the government stated that the pace of operations from the late 1990s has taken its toll and has stretched the Canadian forces, the department, and the men and women who wear the uniform.
As well as Senate committee reports, a Canadian security and military preparedness report released in February of this year reported that there are 105 military occupations, with 43 of these occupations considered to be “stressed”. This means that the status of these occupations is considered to be red, with indications that its trained effective strength is 90% or less and that it may not recover within two years.
I would like to ask the minister how the government intends to continue its high level of overseas commitment given its resources in these estimates. Even with the government's “aggressive” recruitment strategies, how can this situation be remedied before there are increased deployments for our already overtaxed and overburdened military personnel?