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National Defence committee Let me start. I absolutely respect the type of work that you were doing prior to your entry into politics, and I have to commend you for that. I absolutely, secondly, hope you are right in that particular context. My hope is that what you have said is exactly that we will s
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee It's going to be the economics and the fact that we have the continuing resumption of strategic balances between them. But we know that resources lead to conflict. The example I would cite is the Spratly Islands, the east Paracel, and the ongoing conflict between the Chinese, Jap
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee There are two gaps we have that we need to recognize. The first one is, of course, for the continuing defence of North American airspace. The biggest challenge we're facing is that if you do not have a fast air capability, be it a future UAV or an F-18 and its successor.... We've
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee In my view, absolutely, yes. Russia has a huge aerospace capability over its own land territory and over its Arctic waters. The only reason you would actually sail or fly your aircraft with live bomb loads right up to the international border is to make a political statement. You
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee Absolutely. On your point about Dieppe, I couldn't agree more strongly. We've never had a grand strategy. Our strategy has always been to be a helpful ally. So when Mountbatten and the Brits needed to do a test landing in Europe, they said, “We'll send Canadians.” You could add t
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee The issue with the Chinese is an interesting one because it's not going to be just China and Canada in the Arctic; it's going to be Canada in the new relationship with the new China. We're seeing this in terms of a very well thought out Chinese strategy of buying into our resourc
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee Look at the amount that allied air forces were there. We were told that F-18s weren't required because the Europeans and the Americans had a surplus of fighter capability. You and I both know that we will always be down the list when calling on those forces when our personnel nee
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee Yes, absolutely.
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee Security, I'd say more than sovereignty. Sovereignty is an international term that my legal colleagues like. Call it whatever you want, but make sure those coming in are following our rules to support our interests. That's the critical point, in my mind.
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee Yes, that's the question. The problem we're facing with the submarines is that we let them stay in dock too long. We should have bought them at the time they were offered. Anybody who's ever left a car over winter knows what happens when it's parked and not moving. Well, salt wat
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee The flip answer is no, there's not. If you do not have the subs, increasingly you're not going to have the deterrence capability. You're not going to have that psychological factor over subs coming into our waters. They're saying, “Okay, we don't know where the Canadian subs are.
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee It's a little bit of both. I'll give you an example. The navy, very much on its own—and once again, the full story hasn't been told—back in the 1990s started saying that they had to have a reassessment of what Canadian sea power meant. Through a series of the CMS at the time, t
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee That's easy. We do what the Russians are doing. The Russians are basically saying they will follow international law and they will participate in every multilateral improvement of environmental standards. They're a major player in what's referred to as the polar code, which is g
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee Absolutely, there is no question, because the future is coming, and it will be there. Are we prepared for the Europeans or not?
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert
National Defence committee Yes, we are.
March 15th, 2012Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Huebert