Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the question was regarding if ISIS is a threat. ISIS is a threat. I cannot remember the exact words, but I believe it was if Canadians should fear ISIS. It is our job as leaders to give confidence to Canadians that their agencies, whether they are the military, pol

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, this is a very big topic as part of our defence review. However, when we look at the Arctic, we should not just look at it strictly from a National Defence perspective. We need to look at it from a complete government perspective. There is the Coast Guard, the enviro

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, there are a number of projects, and the schedule for the procurement is based on the ones that were there when I became Minister of National Defence. In terms of the question regarding re-profiling, I just want to remind the member that the former government—

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the projects are the Arctic offshore patrol ships, the replacement of our fighters, the maritime helicopter project, the Halifax class frigate modernization, and the integrated soldier system. These are all on the same timeline as the previous government. I would a

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, actually the projects are not ready. This is to protect the money, to make sure it is there when we need it. This is a schedule that I received once I became minister. However, I am working diligently to speed up the process on different projects to make them move fa

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, our government is committed to replacing the F-18 fighter. We are working diligently right now, as I stated. Even though the defence review is going on, this project is on a separate track. I do not have an update for the committee members yet, but when I do, we wil

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I wish I could give you a time frame for that. However, when I have accurate information that I can provide, I will do so in an open manner, as I have done with everything else.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I think we can both agree on the importance of this program. In fact, there is only one ship that is left to be modernized, and it is being worked on now. This program is actually on track and working well. It should be delivered quickly. I got to visit one of the

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, it is 2018, so it will be soon.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the plan is to purchase 28 Cyclone helicopters. Some have already been delivered. They are going through their tests right now, as more come on line. There are no cuts that have been made to the actual program. The plan is to make sure that we have the right number o

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I want to be very clear that we are making no cuts. In fact, we are committed to the national shipbuilding strategy that was developed early on by the previous government. We are working diligently to make sure we have the right ships, and that we have the ships for

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, currently there are over 400 full-time mental health workers available to Canadian Armed Forces members and more are being hired. In addition, we are making sure that as members go on operations, they come back and get post-deployment mental health training, which i

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the threats to our members and our bases are constantly assessed. The Chief of the Defence Staff and I have had discussions on this. If something does change, he notifies me. However, I can assure all committee members here that we take this extremely seriously. Howe

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I would like to report to the hon. member that those ships are currently being built. We are on track for building those five ships and potentially having a sixth one as well. It is budgeted for $3.5 billion, which also includes infrastructure of the northern port, t

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the first ship is expected for 2018. I do not have the exact date when they will be considered fully capable. There is a lot of training that is going to be done. However, the first ship is expected in 2018.