:
Mr. Chairman, thank you.
Yes, I have come with a very large team. As you know, National Defence is just a small organization. It's just to make sure that we can answer all of the questions thoroughly.
I am pleased to be here today to discuss the Department of National Defence's supplementary estimates (B).
Around this time last year, I began the job as Minister of National Defence. It has been a privilege every single day to serve in this role.
My mandate letter from the clearly states that a top priority is to ensure that our women and men in uniform have the equipment they need. The work that we ask them to do is difficult. Supporting our service members requires not only investments into the right equipment and infrastructure, but a dedication and commitment to them and their families as well. Family members trust that we are acting in their loved ones' best interests when we make decisions about resources. I take that trust extremely seriously. The costs to fulfill that trust can fluctuate over time, but I assure you that we are always mindful of our responsibilities as stewards of the public purse when we determine, define, and redefine those costs throughout the year, every year.
Today I would like to do two things. First and foremost, I would like to explain the need for additional funding for the Canadian Armed Forces, its members and missions, but I would also like to paint a picture of DND's commitment and dedication to responsible spending.
Today also represents an opportunity for me to demonstrate how DND is advancing the government's commitments. We continue to build on the government's priorities, and we operate within a whole-of-government construct, working side by side with other departments and agencies in an extremely complex budgetary environment.
I would like to specifically highlight how we are addressing the crisis in Iraq and Syria, investing in infrastructure, protecting the environment, and investing in the Royal Canadian Navy. Allow me to begin with the big picture and the Department of National Defence's supplementary estimates (B).
In total, the department has requested new funding of $257.8 million. Once we account for transfers to other departments, DND's total budgetary authority for the fiscal year becomes $19.3 billion. As I will explain, the additional funds being requested are primarily investments toward defence infrastructure, environmental remediation, and support for expeditionary operations.
On that note, I will start with the largest of the items, and that is the additional funding needed for Operation Impact. This operation is our military contribution to the international coalition that is fighting Daesh in Iraq and Syria. We refocused and enhanced our contribution to the mission earlier this year in reaction to an evolved situation on the ground. The Canadian Armed Forces continue to conduct air operations using Polaris aerial refuellers and Aurora reconnaissance aircraft. A detachment of up to four Griffon helicopters has been added and is supporting the transportation of personnel and equipment. It has also become increasingly clear that a combination of security, diplomacy, humanitarian assistance, and development is required to counter the threat posed by Daesh. We have placed additional emphasis on advising and assisting Iraqi security forces in their efforts to dismantle and defeat this threat. Additional military resources were also dedicated to supporting the coalition with intelligence and headquarters personnel.
Through the supplementary estimates (B), the Department of National Defence has requested $147.1 million in additional funding for Operation Impact for 2016-17. This money will be used primarily for regular and reserve force members' salaries and benefits, as well as for vehicles and other equipment that directly supports Canada's success in Operation Impact and our commitment to help the Iraqi security forces defeat Daesh.
Our commitment to the success of our troops on missions abroad is clear, but so is our commitment to our service members as they live, train, and work back here at home.
The second largest category of additional funding we are seeking today is defence infrastructure. DND has the largest and most complex real property portfolio in the federal government. It is responsible for approximately 20,000 buildings and approximately 2.2 million hectares of land, which is roughly four times the size of Prince Edward Island. We are requesting an additional $36.4 million to help maintain and upgrade federal infrastructure assets. That infrastructure is of critical importance for our women and men in uniform, so we have a great responsibility to maintain and improve it. I can't emphasize enough how investing in infrastructure is an investment in good jobs for civilians in communities across Canada.
The funds requested in this item will be used in several ways. We will finance projects such as defence infrastructure in the north. We will repair airfield hangars, jetties, and other infrastructure at our wings and bases in the rest of Canada.
Eventually though, when real estate is no longer of strategic value, it then needs to be sold or disposed of. For that reason, DND is also seeking to reinvest $19.5 million from the sales and transfers of defence properties. Strategic real property disposals are another way that DND is supporting the government's commitment to improving military infrastructure across the country.
Building and maintaining infrastructure is important to us for all the reasons I've talked about, but caring for the environment as we do that is equally important. The Government of Canada, including National Defence, is committed to protecting the environment. We always aim to be responsible in the way we assess, manage, and remediate federal contaminated sites.
That is why we have requested $22.1 million from phase three of the federal contaminated sites action plan. With these funds, we hope to reduce DND's contaminated sites liability and minimize environmental and human health risks. The remediation projects taking place in Esquimalt harbour in British Columbia, and at 5 Wing Goose Bay in Newfoundland, are at the top of the list to receive this funding. The department will continue to address environmental legacy issues and invest heavily in the decontamination of these sites.
I would like to move from land to sea now. We know that the government is committed to strengthening the Royal Canadian Navy. It is no secret that the navy needs an at-sea supply capability as soon as possible. The contract in place to develop an interim solution will fill the gap until the more robust joint support ships enter into service in 2021-22. The interim auxiliary oiler replenishment ship will also provide capabilities such as at-sea oiler replenishment, aviation support, humanitarian assistance, or disaster relief.
DND is requesting an additional $22 million for pre-delivery service payments related to this contract. This request supports DND's mandate and commitment to working with Public Service and Procurement Canada to strengthen the navy, and it will help grow the economy and create jobs at the same time.
Today's estimates also include additional funding for other lower-cost items. These include the improvement of security for military operations and personnel, smaller projects on bases and properties, and reinvestments of intellectual property royalties as well.
As I mentioned earlier, the overall estimates also include transfers to and from other government organizations. The most significant transfer is $5.9 million to the Communications Security Establishment for their support to military operations, all of which again directly support the priorities of both the Government of Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces.
In closing, Mr. Chair, I hope I have painted a picture of our commitment, a commitment to Canadians, a commitment to responsible spending, and a commitment to the women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces. Our support for them is always unwavering. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today about the additional funds we need to support them in the work they do.
I will now gladly take your questions.
:
Good morning, Minister Sajjan. It's nice to have you here. I'd like to thank you and your assembled team for your important work and your service to our nation.
I would like to start by asking about Operation Impact, our effort in Iraq and Syria. It's a topic of great interest to me. I've spent a significant amount of time on the ground in Iraq. More importantly, it's a topic of interest to all members of this committee and increasingly to residents of our constituencies. In Mississauga—Lakeshore, my riding, people ask me quite regularly for updates on the effort that our women and men are engaged in on the ground.
I must say that I'm quite proud of the work that Canada is doing to help Iraq and Syria find their way forward, and equally important, to help those people who are displaced by this prolonged conflict. There's an overall commitment of $375 million, and that includes the Global Affairs component, and our component for DND is just over $140 million.
I'm wondering, Minister, if you could start by giving us an update on how things are going at the moment on the ground in Iraq and Syria, how Operation Impact is unfolding.
I have a few more specific questions after that as well.
:
Absolutely. Thank you for the question.
When we looked at the situation in Iraq before deciding on what type of capabilities and assets to put in, we took a very thorough approach, not towards the fight at that time, but towards what it was going to look like in the coming year, which is now. The direct request was on intelligence assets and trainers, not just any type of trainers but people specific to the ethnic breakdown and complexity of Iraq.
First of all, the intelligence components we put in weren't just about doubling the capacity. It was about putting in the right type of intelligence and getting a fusion centre in place that's going to allow for the intel to be put into proper packages that go through a very rigorous process. That process has gone extremely well and has allowed the coalition commander a much-needed intelligence capability for decision-making and targeting.
The other aspect is the training. It is critical that the right type of groups are trained at the right time. As the other cities were being taken earlier in the year, there was a lot of work we needed to do with our allies in training for the north. You can see the fruits of that labour now. As we're now about to liberate Mosul, having those right groups was critical in making sure that no additional tensions were created.
That leads me to the ministerial liaison team. That whole-of-government approach that we were trying to take is having a tremendous impact. The ministerial liaison team is led by a Canadian general. Working directly with Iraq's ministries of defence and interior has allowed for the sequencing and some of the situation awareness to go very well. Keep in mind, a military solution is just one aspect of things and a lot of other work has gone on behind the scenes. The political situation is equally important. The work that my colleagues have done not just in Iraq itself, but in the region has had an impact. Now we need to work very hard to make sure we achieve not just the liberation of Mosul, but also the political aspect of stability.
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I have to say at the outset that we're discussing supplementary estimates for 2016-17. That's the current fiscal year. The question is whether these are adequate amounts to support the needs of the military, so I think your ruling is in fact mistaken and I'm going to go ahead with the questions that I intended to ask.
Thank you very much, Mr. Minister, for the commitment on infrastructure, and particularly the cleanup of contaminated sites. It's very important in my riding. At CFB Esquimalt, for many years the navy did things that perhaps they regret having done and now there are some big cleanup costs, so I do appreciate that.
I also appreciate the attention to the facilities on land, because many people who work in the Canadian Forces are working in substandard facilities and we have lots of problems, certainly locally, with asbestos in some of those buildings and things that need to be done. We have a backlog of that maintenance that needs to be done, so I welcome that commitment here.
One of the things in the recent Auditor General's report talks about planning. On page 2 of the summary of that report, it says that National Defence must plan above minimum needs so that it has sufficient equipment available to respond to changing circumstances.
One of my concerns, when you're talking about the navy, is that the shipbuilding strategy started out as a minimum, what we needed at minimum to meet our commitments. Now it tends to be talked about as a ceiling, that it is the maximum that we can get for the navy.
Given those comments by the Auditor General, it reinforces my concern that we not see the shipbuilding strategy as the total of what the navy needs, but as the minimum of what we need to keep the navy current.
:
The deputy minister and I will tag-team the answer. I'll speak to the evolution of the mission and the potential requirements going forward.
In the last round, the minister spoke to the nature of the mission. Clearly, as the situation in Iraq, particularly in the context of Mosul, the liberation thereof, evolves and we get a better sense of what the emerging needs are of the Iraqi security forces themselves, we'll have to look at the nature of our current contribution to the coalition, and the number of options related to how we either reinforce certain things that we're doing or potentially shift forces or shift the focus.
As it relates to any specifics, it really is too early to tell. It is such a dynamic and fluid situation on the ground that it would be premature of us to be speculating as to what we may or may not do.
Ultimately, as the current mandate comes to its end, we have to come back to government and provide advice as to how we would or would not want to extend the mission, and what that extension may or may not look like in the context of how the operational situation is evolving. Then, as it relates to the costing of that, that would be another step in the process.
National Defence has 12,500 houses for the use of military members and their families, and they're scattered across the country, not always in the right places, according to requirements. We are in the midst of using operational requirements from base commanders and from the three environments to determine where we need the appropriate number of houses, and then we're going to try to rebalance the portfolio. That's the big answer.
National Defence got through the budget this year and received $50 million to upgrade the infrastructure quality of our houses. That would be new construction and renovations. We have spent significant amounts of money over the last five years, in the range of $500 million. The impact on the portfolio has been quite good. The demand used to be for four-bedroom houses for big families. Now it's more one- and two-bedroom apartment-style accommodations. So we are doing that.
We're trying to follow the techniques of modern markets. The one you're speaking about in Bagotville, I'm not sure if that is government-owned or if it's owned by the private sector. We are seeking to rely on the private sector to provide housing of the right quality and the right affordability, which is possible today. It wasn't possible in the fifties. It's a different model that we're trying to move towards. At the end of the day, the welfare of the troops and their families, the affordability, what we provide through houses, the neighbourhoods and that kind of thing—all these are paramount.
:
Thank you, sir, for the question.
Yes, we're on track. Again, it's a service to be delivered in the fall of 2017. Federal Fleet Services, as the company is now called, with whom we are in contract, for whom the Davie shipyard is a subcontractor, is very open. We're there monthly and have a third party overseeing it.
They are telling us quite openly that a lot of what remains is the disassembled part of the ship, the MV Asterix, starting to pull it together. At the end of the winter of 2017, they will be bringing over what we call a major piece of the structure, the house, which has been built in Scandinavia. It will be coming over and put onto the ship.
They are reflecting that there is risk ahead, as there is in anything this complex, but are very open. Currently, notwithstanding some schedule risks that we see in all our projects, it is on track to be able to provide that service to the navy in the fall of 2017.
:
Just a second, James. I'm going to suspend for a second to make sure this motion's in order, and then I'll get back to you.
After conferring with the clerk and pulling the book out to make sure that we do the right thing for the right reasons, I have concluded that this motion doesn't refer back to supplementary estimates (B). There are a bunch of supporting documents that the clerk is saying we would need, and because it doesn't relate directly to what we're talking about here, I'm going to rule it out of order. You're welcome to table something similar in the future if you would like to discuss this particular bill.
To be fair, I think somebody else wants the floor, so I'm going to rule this out of order.
Mr. James Bezan: Can I just—
The Chair: No, because I don't have time, and I want to make sure that everyone gets a chance. This particular motion is out of order.
Mr. James Bezan: [Inaudible—Editor]
The Chair: We accept that motion on notice. That's fair. You can do that.
Mr. Garrison, you have the floor.