National Defence

Opening remarks

Thank you very much for the question. I think that ammunition is absolutely a core capability that we need to advance as quickly as possible. It is part of our 10 focus areas of the defence industrial strategy. We are trying to fast-track as much as we can to increase the ammunition supply. With those investments made, as you noted in your question, we are working with industry to get them as quickly as possible into the hands of the military.

Opening remarks

Mr. Chair, I will take this one. This allowance in particular is called an environmental allowance, and the pitfall of having a monthly allowance is that, when members are not operating in said environment.... We have the same for the navy with the sea duty allowance and the land duty allowance. This is the CSOR allowance. If they get injured and are not called to go on operation for more than 30 days, that is when they lose this allowance. It is problematic, and it's something that we've solved with the sea duty allowance and the land duty allowance, by making it per day. When you go on operation, you get it. If you don't go on operation, you don't get it, so it's fair. It's based on a concrete action that needs to be compensated. Now, specifically for the special forces and search and rescue, we are looking at embedding these allowances inside their salary just like we've done for pilots. For example, pilots in the Canadian Armed Forces don't get an air crew allowance because it's embedded in their salary. Whether they get injured or not, they still retain it. This, to me, is to ensure that they get compensated in the way that they should, as well as getting them on par with…

Opening remarks

Thank you. That is the objective. We are mindful—and certainly, this came up in our preparation of the DIS—that security clearances and the contract security program require us to be more proactive in clearing companies and operators, enabling them to access the international market.

Opening remarks

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about what is critically important for Canada. We're here to talk about Canada's defence industrial strategy, of course, and I would like to begin my comments by addressing what I see as one of the major challenges, if not flaws, of the efforts we have. I applaud the fact that we have finally gotten serious about the development of a national defence industry strategy. We almost have to go back to Canada's shipbuilding strategy to find an equivalent effort, but this is of a much greater magnitude. My greatest criticism of the strategy is the assumption on which it is based. It provides some very strong pillars and provides us a direction for how we should be thinking in the context of addressing the Canadian military industrial strategy, but it misses one of the most critical elements that I think we no longer have time to put off. It is based on the assumption that we have more than enough time to prepare [Technical difficulty—Editor]. I would contend that many of the changes mentioned in the introduction and in the statement of the three ministers at the beginning of the strategy, in which they are talking…

Opening remarks

Good evening. Thank you for the invitation. I would like to extend my greetings to my colleagues. I'll be speaking in English, but you can ask your questions in the official language of your choice. Sovereignty is a choice. At the end of World War II, Canada had the fourth-largest military in the world. Today, the Canadian Armed Forces are smaller than the Alabama National Guard, America's 30th-largest state. The defence investment strategy is an opportunity to invest in Canada's most important instrument of statecraft, but to what effect? On the eve of Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine, the previous Social Democratic coalition government, under Chancellor Olaf Scholz, provided a one-time special investment of 100 billion euros in the German Bundeswehr. Other than a few additional planes, the money generated few actual capabilities, because much of it was diverted for political priorities and not spent on defence per se. The DIS faces the same risk. There is barely a mention of conflict, war and scale. In other words, the litmus test for the DIS is to turn defence spending into actual capabilities. A stronger Canada in a stronger NATO needs to deliver on three priorities:…

Opening remarks

Thank you, Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to speak before this committee again, particularly on a topic that I think is of vital importance to our country. Defence industrial policy is having a renaissance in Canada and internationally. While there have been several efforts to develop a Canadian policy over the decades, such as the 2014 defence procurement strategy, the last time it engendered a similar sustained interest was back in the 1950s. The defence industrial base is among the most complex areas of policy-making. It involves military strategy, industrial policy, science and technology, education, and foreign trade, among others. Given its broad scope, I'd like to cede my time back to the committee and encourage members to ask specific questions of interest to them. I've written extensively on this area for the past decade. If members are interested, there are a number of works I can point to, such as a recent report on the history and structure of the Canadian defence industry, that would cover some of these areas. My personal area of study is the comparative analysis of military strategy, procurement and industrial policy. In other words, it is the nexus of how…

Opening remarks

Chair and honourable members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to appear today. I would like to make three points regarding the defence industrial strategy and critical mineral supply chains. First, Canada has made meaningful progress on critical mineral security in the past year, particularly through the work of Natural Resources Canada and through allied coordination initiatives such as the G7's critical minerals production alliance. Second, we need a much more sophisticated understanding of supply chain vulnerabilities that goes beyond mining itself. Third, the defence industrial strategy's commitment to developing a strategy by this quarter to expand the production, processing, stockpiling and procurement of defence critical minerals requires that we think very strategically about what market-shaping mechanisms government should use to support resilient supply chains. Canada is in a relatively strong position globally. We are a major producer of many strategic commodities. We possess significant untapped reserves and are viewed internationally as a stable and trusted supplier. That reliability matters more today than it did five years ago. What has changed is…