QUESTION PERIOD — National Defence
Canadian Forces Personnel and Equipment
December 7, 2023
Leader, my question concerns the video released by the Royal Canadian Navy last week. In the video, Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee had this to say about the impacts that severe staff shortages are having on the navy’s readiness:
Our West Coast fleet is beset with a shortage of qualified techs constraining our ability to maintain and operate our ships, and causing us to prioritize the Halifax class at the expense of the Kingston class. Challenges in generating techs for the Harry DeWolf class mean that we can only sail one at a time right now. . . .
Leader, the Harry DeWolf-class vessels are the navy’s new offshore patrol vessels. Is it disturbing or, perhaps, even embarrassing to the Trudeau government that Canada can only deploy one at a time?
Thank you for your question. I’ve said on many occasions that it is fundamentally important that all branches of the Canadian Armed Forces have both the personnel and the equipment that they need to do their jobs. The investment that this government has made over the years has not, obviously, been as fulsome as some would have hoped, notwithstanding the fact that defence spending has increased under this government for many years. And it is also the case that we are struggling with retention of personnel. The government has made important investments in the area of ships for the navy, as it has in other areas of our military — it will continue to do so, and will continue to try to bridge the gap between our needs and some of our more aging inventory in that regard.
The fact is that the navy has neither the adequate personnel nor the equipment. In fact, the Vice-Admiral also said in the video that the navy must find a way to keep the Halifax-class frigates running until, at least, 2040. These frigates are already at the end of their 30-year design life, and, by 2040, they will be about 50 years old. What does this poor state of readiness say about how the Trudeau government views NATO and Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, where these frigates are required to meet Canada’s commitments?
Canada is doing what it can within responsible fiscal parameters to continue to support our military. As I’ve said on other occasions — as Hansard will show — the government’s investments in defence, as a percentage of GDP, are greater than those of the previous government.
This is not an excuse, and it is not to shirk responsibility, but to acknowledge that the government is doing what it can in a fiscally responsible way — and it will continue to do what it can — to support our military.
