National Defence committee  Thank you, Chair. I hope that General Cathcart will have an opportunity to give a couple of opening remarks as well. I am thankful for the chance to be back before you. I apologize, I wasn't able to have my remarks translated in time, but a translation will be provided later. My brief opening remarks will focus on four areas of Bill C-15 that we believe are of particular importance: offences under the military justice system, military police complaints, the office of the provost marshal, and the grievance process, specifically the role of the Chief of the Defence Staff within that process.

National Defence committee  In reprogramming the $11 million, we looked at our cost move account, which is an allocation of a little over $400 million a year for all of the moves across the country, an area where we want to make some savings by doing smarter business. That allows us to actually target that $11.4 million to be provided to supplement the mental health—

National Defence committee  No, it's out of the cost move account, the cost of moving people from Ottawa to the west coast or from the west coast to Toronto and that type of thing.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  We have found efficiencies in that account that will offset the $11.4 million. It's been reinvested in mental health.

National Defence committee  Thank you, sir. I think you're talking about the selection of infrastructure for divestment in the department. Is that right? Level one, which is associate deputy minister or the heads of the army, navy, air force, etc., have a look at the infrastructure related to their portfolios and review it on an ongoing basis to determine if there are aspects that are surplus to their requirements.

National Defence committee  There are provisions for bringing it back.

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, Sir, the estimate that was requested—and I believe you're referring to the article in the Ottawa Citizen today—was based on the incremental cost of doing this, understanding at the time that the overflight would be from within the yearly flying rate that had already been budgeted within the department, and within the temporary duty costs for those air crew involved that were going to be spent anyway in the types of training missions they were undertaking.

National Defence committee  First of all, infrastructure is an equal pillar in our business. We take it seriously. It's very important, and as I said in my remarks, without infrastructure we cannot conduct our operations. Secondly, we have a lot of infrastructure: we have a lot of buildings, and we have a lot of land.

National Defence committee  Thank you. Another great and complex question. I'm conscious that I'm probably taking too long to answer some of these questions, and I apologize, but clearly it's a subject that interests me and I want to make sure that I can be as clear as possible. Let me talk about four domains of space: the way it supports operations in terms of communications, the way it supports operations in terms of awareness, the way it gives us awareness of a threat, and the threats that are posed in space.

National Defence committee  We found the situation in Libya to be quite a surprise, in that six months before or eight months before it was not a part of the world we were really concerned about, and it fairly rapidly turned into a part of the world we were quite concerned about. The first area of concern in Libya in particular was the safety of Canadians, in fact, the safety of the international community.

National Defence committee  At the same time, sir, we were watching the situation as it developed. We were watching the concern in the international community and at the UN. Looking at the forces that we had ready and the forces that we could make ready, we prepared a series of capability options for the government.

National Defence committee  I just rent it, sir.

National Defence committee  Well, sir, I wouldn't want to give the impression, following on from Minister Baird's announcement, that there would be a contemplation of a military mission in Syria. We are always ready for missions that the Government of Canada may direct us to undertake. We're always ready to provide options for the Government of Canada.

National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. I've seen the reserves evolve significantly over the course of my career. To my mind, the reserves are in a much stronger place than they were when I joined the Canadian Forces. We have seen almost a full circle, in that when I joined the reserves, the reserve force was very much a mobilization force: an augmentation force lest the country go to war and need that pool of trained people.