Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the total budget when it comes to the reserves is $744.9 million. When it comes to reservists, if I can just explain, it is not just about having the money; it is also about the ability to spend it. There is some work that we are doing as part of the defence revi

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, when it comes to the complexity of defence budgets, I am very fortunate to have three colleagues who do most of the heavy lifting. Again, I want to reassure the committee that the $3.7 billion is being reprofiled to match the funding with the procurement schedule. T

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the member raised some good points. We do need to ensure that our planes and all our equipment are maintained. However, at this time it would be premature for me to make any commitments. As part of the defence review, we will be looking at many different aspects of s

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, Canada will always maintain its sovereignty. Within our context with NORAD, this is a unique relationship that we have. It is the only one of its kind in the world. It is a binational command. We should be proud of the fact that we do have this. I was fortunate to a

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, we have started converting three-year terms to full time. However, when it comes to looking at the overall, as the member said, we have to look at the efficiency of the Canadian Armed Forces. As part of the defence review, we will be discussing how service is best de

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, it is important as part of the defence review that we have as wide a discussion as possible. There are many discussions we will have as part of the defence review and ballistic missile defence is one of them. It is important for Canadians to understand all aspects of

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, one of the reasons it was very important for the defence committee to go to NORAD was for them to have the same information that I have. As defence minister, I look at all of the threats out there and we need to look at all of the capabilities. It is important for us

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I am happy to have those kinds of discussions in a more closed forum, so we can discuss some of the sensitive information. That is what this is about. It is about making sure that we do have the information. The committee's visit to NORAD was so that all members co

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, we do face threats. We just heard on the news about the sabre-rattling from North Korea. That is a significant threat. As time goes on, technology does get easier. As part of the defence review, we are not just looking at it now. We are looking at where technology

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, we are having the discussions. For example, in NATO we are talking about deterrents. We are looking at NORAD modernization, updating our radar. There are many aspects. This is just one discussion. I am happy to discuss BMD, but what I am really looking forward to is

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, what I was going to explain and also answer the hon. member across the floor is understanding conflict. We have developed some great lessons. What we discuss now are the complexities of the conflict and the sectarian violence that has happened. What we are doing now

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, there are significant challenges that we face in terms of capability now. The joint supply ships are going to be coming online. We have a capability gap right now in how we supply our navy. That is one of the reasons we moved very quickly with the interim AOR and get

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, the travel plan that I made had a method to its madness. First, it was to get an understanding of our operations, to understand what was required in refocusing our mission. That is one of the reasons I travelled into the region twice, speaking with regional partners,

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, one of our fundamental responsibilities in the military is the security of Canadians, whether that is directly from a counterterrorism role, to domestic operations, whether the threat may be from floods or from fires. The military is well suited for this and as part of

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, we have been working diligently to get the right forces into theatre. We put our intelligence capability into theatre. I was speaking with the deputy commander of the coalition just last week in Germany, and he was extremely happy about that. Our coalition partners are