National Defence committee  I've been out for four years. I'm going to defer to Alyssa on that one.

National Defence committee  I put the recommendation in my opening statement that what we need is the same war surge in housing that we saw after the end of the Second World War. I think that's probably it.

National Defence committee  I spent most of my military training on CFB Petawawa and in training centre Meaford. When I got to Meaford in 2000, there were two buildings—shacks—and a few bigger rooms, but they were only transient as well. It was promised to us then that there would be new buildings coming.

National Defence committee  I would say that it's probably all of the above. It really depends on the units that you're looking at. I was talking to a friend of mine who left the army reserve and went to the navy. He was telling me about homes that are in his community of PMQs that are unoccupied. Some are falling apart and some are mid-renovation, and there has been a series of renovators going in and not finishing the work.

National Defence committee  The contractors I'm talking about are not DND employees. They're contracted, subcontracted or, in some cases, sub-subcontracted out from whoever gets the contract for base maintenance for that particular base.

National Defence committee  Again, it would be all of the above, because it is subjective to the units that we're talking about. I don't have experience living in the PMQs myself—I would recommend asking Alyssa that question—but I do have experience as an officer in charge of the Brampton Armoury for 10 years.

National Defence committee  Thank you, and thank you for having me back. My name is Christopher Banks. I retired in 2019 after 20 years as a sergeant and quartermaster in the army reserve. During my career, I was fortunate to have been given many opportunities, which took me to bases and training centres across the country.

National Defence committee  There's one thing I keep coming back to, because I'm also a Canadian; I'm also a citizen; I'm also invested in the future of the military. I do pay attention to policy in the news. One thing that keeps coming up in the conversation is what the best bet for the creation of a national fire service is.

National Defence committee  I'm not sure if it's been circulated, but I did submit a brief, yes.

National Defence committee  To speak to the training question, for Operation Lentus-type operations we're not going to be able to get into a pre-deployment phase prior to deployments. Op Lentus deployments are always let's go, we have a fire, a flood, something, we have to go. That is where the IRUs are best to be first in because they are regular force so they have the ability to say, it's fire season, it's snow season, it's flood season, and they can do that kind of training.

National Defence committee  Can I just get a little context on what the senior leadership's opinion was first?

National Defence committee  I think a simplistic answer is that it might be generational. I think there is a lot of rigidity with regard to change in the military. I don't want to be speaking ill of any senior leaders in the military, to be clear, but I do believe that there is a sentiment that things have maybe changed too much, that maybe we cannot handle everything that's being asked of us, or maybe, as I said in my opening statement, it is purely ideological that the military has one task, i.e., the defence of the nation.

National Defence committee  It is part of it. It's a bigger issue when we're talking about the recruitment and retention problem. This is part of it. If you join the military and there is nothing to do, did you really join the military, or are you just putting on a uniform? This is especially true when people join the military and are told that they have to wait for their recruit course because it just doesn't have enough positions.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  It is, especially when we're talking about the administration side of what happens during a deployment. On an expeditionary deployment, there are phases to deployment, and there are a lot of checks that happen along the way. That is especially true on the back end when we're talking about health care and mental health checks.