Peter MacKay

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, a commitment has been made by this government to put in place in the Arctic refuelling capabilities. The location chosen was Nanisivik. There has been a scaling of that project with respect to the initial announcement.

We have conducted a full-value engineering review of the project to ensure it will deliver what we require in that location within the mandated budget. Progress has been made on the project itself within the definition phase now and the interim facilities were built during the summer of 2010, including a temporary office building. Temporary deployments and operations and future military exercises will benefit from this refuelling station. The construction of these interim facilities will also provide training opportunities in the Arctic, which is an important priority of this government.

Clearly, the future arrival of Royal Canadian Navy offshore patrol ships, the eventual completion of the project of a new icebreaker and all of the navy assets that will be able to refuel will benefit from this project. This is part of a larger footprint that we see of facilities and infrastructure in the Canadian north.

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, the mission itself has changed in terms of its role. We have gone from a combat mission in Kandahar province in the south of the country now to a training mission in and around Kabul.

With respect to the ongoing costs, the funding arrangement that we have in place allows for full incremental costs for the mission to date, totalling $8.7 billion. This figure includes the redeployment and the reconstitution of the mission itself and will run to the period of 2014, which is the current commitment.

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, I too have had the great pleasure to stand in admiration to see our Chief of the Defence Staff, Canada's top soldier, address those brave men and women and speak to them personally and passionately about the importance of coming forward, of self-diagnosing, of recognizing that there is a need to get help but, most important, that the help is there and to do away with any stigma or any negative connotation that it is somehow unlike a soldier to ask for help.

Soldiers are the toughest, most diligent, most patriotic and passionate Canadians, but there are times in their life where they do need the help and need to reach out. That is why we continue to make these important investments to provide not only the physical surroundings, but the individuals, the personal support, the chaplains, the psychiatrists, the mental health professionals. We will continue to make those important investments in that most important asset, and that is our personnel and the help they need.

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, like the member for Chilliwack—Fraser Canyon, I come from a coastal community and maritime security is now an enormous role within the Canadian Forces. It is an enormous role within Norad, with maritime approaches now falling under that command.

With respect to what Canada is doing, as was mentioned earlier by the parliamentary secretary, currently we have 1,300 Canadian soldiers deployed on 15 international missions. Global security includes the deployment of naval assets. With respect to ongoing missions, we have sailors aboard the HMCS Charlottetown making contributions to maritime security through Operation Active Endeavour, which is NATO's mission to prevent the movement of terrorism and weapons at sea, which is an ongoing mission within the Mediterranean.

The Canadian Forces are also part of successful operations such as Operation Jaguar, which completed its mandate in November of this past year with respect to counter-narcotics missions. Operation Jaguar began with a request from the government of Jamaica to deploy assets, both aviation and naval assets, in assisting in the mandate to conduct essential training and search and rescue operations, which we were speaking of a moment ago.

Also, we have had the privilege of announcing the participation of HMCS St. John's and its ship borne CH-124A Sea King helicopter in Operation Caribbe.

We have seen the Canadian Forces contribute as well to Op Martillo, a binational joint inter-agency and multinational collaboration effort with the western hemisphere.

We also know that future training operations will include our Canadian submarines, including those taking place in the Pacific. Throughout the course of these activities we are extremely proud of our sailors and all they provide with our naval and aviation assets and also working with other agencies including the Coast Guard. This is important work given the size of our coastline, the largest coastline of any on the planet. As well, this is why the associate minister has referred to the historic naval bill that will see the replacement of all of our fleet of combat vessels, in addition to icebreakers and Arctic patrol vessels.

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, as I indicated a number of times now, this capability was to improve the spares and the serviceability of the existing fleet. While they may have the same airframe and some—some—of the same capabilities, such as a hoist, this is not the purpose for which these particular helicopters were designed. In fact, they are spares. They are boxes of parts, essentially, and certainly not assembled for the purposes of search and rescue.

I come back to the issue of Cyclones, though. All Canadian Forces air assets can be used—commandeered, if you will—on occasion, if necessary, for the purposes of search and rescue. That is a commonly known fact within the Canadian Forces.

Most importantly, though, let us spend some time talking about the SAR techs themselves and what they are able to do. These individuals give so freely of themselves and are so prepared to go above and beyond. They are fearless to a fault. They exhibit daily courage. The training regimen is akin to what Olympic athletes do, and it allows them to perform these feats of courage and heroics in terrible conditions in response to search and rescue incidents that occur with frequency across the country. They often put themselves at great risk in response to those calls.

I want to report to the hon. member, in response to an earlier question, the serviceability is approximately 60%, meaning that eight of the 14 Canadian Forces CH-149s are available on any given day.

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, I in no way, shape or form made that indication.

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, the hon. member will know that we lost one Cormorant helicopter to a crash on the east coast. This was part of the impetus and motivation to go out and get those parts.

If the hon. member is suggesting that we should build functioning helicopters with these parts, that is simply not possible. We purchased them specifically to improve the serviceability of the existing fleet.

As I mentioned earlier, we have a number of Canadian Forces air assets that are used on occasion for search and rescue. We have the Cyclone helicopters that are going to be coming into use in the near future. We have other assets, such as Twin Otters that are stationed in Yellowknife.

The Canadian north is a tremendous area of search and rescue responsibility. We are improving our assets as well as our capabilities there, and we will continue to make those investments.

Of course, as the hon. member also mentioned earlier this evening, we have an procurement outstanding with respect to fixed-wing search and rescue. We are pursuing that necessary capability as well.

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, I can tell the hon. member that we have an array of military assets that are used throughout the country in the central region. At that particular base, the combination of Griffon helicopters and CC-130 Hercules aircraft fits the bill for our requirement. All Canadian Forces assets, particularly air assets, can be assigned for search and rescue purposes at various times, given the need, and in response to certain incidents.

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2012]

Yes, of course, Mr. Chair.

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, I do not have the specific availability. It has improved as a result of those parts acquisitions and as a result of the incredible work done by maintenance crews on both Cormorants and Sea Kings, and we continue to see improvements in the use and availability of the Cormorant.