National Defence

The committee’s first meeting of the session was devoted to electing a chair and vice-chairs, adopting routine motions, and receiving notices of motion for future business. The clerk presided over the election of Liberal MP Sousa as chair. Conservative MP James Bezan was elected first vice-chair, and Bloc Québécois MP Simon‑Pierre Savard‑Tremblay was elected second vice-chair. The committee then adopted a standard set of routine motions by unanimous consent.

During the business portion, Conservative members gave several notices of motion. James Bezan gave notice of a motion to invite the Minister and officials to appear for two hours on the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates (A), and to televise that meeting. He noted the minister was not available that week but hoped to schedule the appearance. Cheryl Gallant gave notice of a motion to adopt as a committee report a previous session’s report on housing and supports for Canadian Armed Forces members and their families. James Bezan gave a similar notice to adopt a previous report on transparency and accountability in National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. Cheryl Gallant also gave notice of a motion for ongoing briefings on threat analysis and operational readiness. Scott Anderson gave notice of a motion to invite the Minister of National Defence and the Secretary of State for Defence Procurement to appear within 14 days. James Bezan gave notice of a motion to invite the Auditor General to discuss the report on delivering Canada’s future fighter jet capability, and Jeff Kibble gave notice of a motion to invite the Ombud for National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces to appear in September.

No decisions were taken on these notices; they were placed on notice for future meetings. The committee did not schedule a further meeting for that week, leaving the timing of the minister’s appearance and the other proposed studies unresolved.