Government Operations committee  I'm on the record in a publication a couple of months ago as saying that when you do the math, and going back to the rule of three or four, I believe we need at least three submarines available to us at any point in time. That could be geographically logical, with one on each coa

Government Operations committee  There are several problems intersecting simultaneously. There's a significant lack of capacity to actually move program, which is getting worse. There is a problem related to the sheer weight of process. When you combine those two, obviously that's a bad outcome. There's also a p

Government Operations committee  Unfortunately, the answer is “it depends”. There's no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. There are legitimately areas where rapid procurement of off-the-shelf, either commercialized or readily available, technologies at a faster rate of production make perfect sense. The

Government Operations committee  I can't speak to what's going on inside Transport Canada, but I can speak at a general level. I do believe we have an opportunity and a responsibility to both build and leverage the capacity. Mr. Choi has made a couple of good comments with respect to broader capacity amongst the

Government Operations committee  With a submarine, the.... Go ahead.

Government Operations committee  Well, the first thing we need is a far more robust underwater surveillance capability than we currently have. That'll give us a better sense of what's going on and who's where, and therefore what reactions we may or may not need to take. We then need to increase the ability to r

Government Operations committee  There is no perfect system. Every one of those allies, if you were to ask them, would offer you lessons learned from their own experiences. I think the two examples that you provided in your opening question are very good places to start. As we look at Australia specifically, t

Government Operations committee  Let me respond initially by somewhat challenging the premise of your question. We could build them here. I am not advocating that we should, however. I think this goes back to—

Government Operations committee  We would need to dedicate the capacity and would need to develop some very specific skills associated with the manufacture of the pressure hulls, but there are similar technologies used in the offshore oil industry and elsewhere that could be migrated to that. What I'm trying to

Government Operations committee  I appreciate the question. It's legitimate in the context of your work as a committee and where we find ourselves. The global combat ship, as it is generically referred to, was intended to be exactly that. It was intended to be a ship that could be modified for multiple users, a

Government Operations committee  Yes. Thank you, Mr. Johns. I think this is one of the key areas where there are some best practices amongst our allies and our friends that we could learn from. Your question goes right to the heart of the distribution and, ultimately, I would suggest, the dilution of authority

Government Operations committee  Those are two really good examples. Another could be the French. The French have a slightly different model. Their defence industry is completely integrated into their economic strategy. They consider defence spending as an element of economic and industrial development. They als

Government Operations committee  The government officials, I believe, should be there to manage the machinery of the process. Notwithstanding a lot of challenges, which is a whole other discussion, I believe they're doing the best they can in the circumstances. Where we start to see the interface with the politi

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for your question and your comments, Madam. Unfortunately, I can't comment on the Asterix or a possible second ship. I can only repeat what I said to Mr. Bezan earlier, that there is a demand for more ships for the Royal Canadian Navy, but it's n

Government Operations committee  I will respond in English. I think you raise one of the fundamental issues associated with procurement. It's not just a problem in Canada; it's a problem amongst all of our allies. The issue is how we separate the political processes associated with the expenditure of large amo