Art Eggleton

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

Mr. Chairman, as the hon. member knows full well, we do not have attack helicopters. We do not have every capability. We cannot afford within our budget to have every capability. We do have things like our Coyotes and our LAV IIIs which a lot of other countries do not have. We are able to complement a lot of the things that our allies have and are able to operate in a co-operative way for common defence purposes or common crisis management purposes in terms of peacekeeping operations.

No, we do not have attack helicopters and we do not have aircraft carriers. We do not have many things but what we do have we are striving to make sure it is the best possible equipment. We have the LAV IIIs and the Coyotes. The army has a new communications system. We have gone through upgrades and replacements in many other areas to ensure we have good, state of the art equipment.

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

As I indicated before, we have made upgrades in a number of areas such as in the modernization of our forces. It has been our aim to increase the rapid deployment of our forces. We have been able to get our forces into peace support operations and into the combat zone in Afghanistan in excellent time periods. We have been there when we have needed to be there. We will continue to work on improvements in that area.

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

As I have indicated before, we have no plan to remove that brigade. We certainly want to make sure we have the Canadian forces to do the kinds of jobs that this government has asks it to do and that we give it the resources that are necessary. We will be going through the defence update that I have spoken about many times to help determine our capabilities, our force structure and our readiness levels will be.

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

As I said, we are having a review update of our policy. We will look at all of the different capabilities. We need to make sure we have the resources to match our program. All those matters are under examination.

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

It would take 90 days to deploy.

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

Mr. Chairman, as I said all of these matters are being examined. In due course, as we get into the defence review update, we will be able to look at all of the questions of capabilities, force structure and readiness levels within that framework. I am sure the hon. member will be able to tell us of her views on the matter.

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

Mr. Chairman, we have no plans to cut a brigade.

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

No, Mr. Chairman, that is not being entertained at this point in time. I did indicate that the commander of the army is going through a transformation phase of reforms and changes to try to bring it within the resource limits that exist. At the same time, looking for additional resources will be something that will be examined in the defence review update.

I know the hon. member would like to plan all of our military missions, but the Canadian forces are well aware of the resources we have and if they are available or not available for continuing missions.

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

Mr. Chairman, that is all hypothetical. We are looking at the matter. We obviously know what our resources are and what we have to do in this regard. We have to look at what our priorities are. We have to look at what we have available. All of that will be examined.

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

Mr. Chairman, we are not planning to remove our troops from Bosnia. There is an examination as to the level of troop commitments in Bosnia by all the NATO countries at the moment. Our plans are to continue with our commitment there under the NATO banner. As I have indicated there are a number of elements to our commitment to Operation Apollo, which will be continuing on. A decision with respect to the battle group replacement is something that will come within a matter of days.

In examining all of these, obviously we have to look at our resources and resource implications. We have to establish our priorities. That will all be worked out in a short period of time.