Speeches

December 3, 2001

Speaking Notes for
General Raymond Henault
Chief of the Defence Staff
For an Appearance Before the
Senate Committee on National Security and Defence
Ottawa, Ontario

Mr. Chairman,
Committee Members,

It’s a pleasure to join you this afternoon.

I hope you found the briefings from the Environmental Chiefs of Staff informative.

What I would like to do today is provide you with my perspective on the plans and priorities for the Canadian Forces, both today and over the longer-term.

But first I will give you a brief update on our current operations.

General overview of situation on the ground
Present and planned force disposition
Missions and Tasks
Items of Interest
Balkans update

Clearly, the events of September 11^th have added a new and complex dimension to the international security environment.

We have seen firsthand the serious threat posed by terrorism.  And we have also seen that countering this threat will neither be a short nor easy task.

Obviously, these developments will be factored into future thinking on defence policy and planning.

But in many respects, this new dimension does not fundamentally alter the way in which we are preparing the Canadian Forces for the future.

As we have stated in our Report on Plans and Priorities:

We will continue investing in our people.

We will continue modernizing our equipment and acquiring new capabilities.

And we will continue balancing each of these with our operational requirements and the resources at our disposal.

Helping guide us in this endeavour is our long-term plan, Strategy 2020. At the core of this strategy is the need for the Canadian Forces to be combat-capable, globally deployable and interoperable with our allies.

Accomplishing this depends in large measure on attracting and retaining highly skilled people and providing them with the tools they need to do their jobs effectively.

As Chief of Defence Staff, I am focusing a good deal of my energy on making sure we meet both of these objectives.

That investment in people, as I have stated, remains key to the future for the Canadian Forces, as a lack of the right people with the right training and equipment will prevent the Canadian Forces from achieving both its short and long-term goals.

That’s why we have launched an aggressive recruiting campaign to inform Canadians of the exciting career, adventure and challenges offered by the Canadian Forces.

This three-year campaign is already achieving good success.  To date, we have reached 85% of our target of 7,000 Regular Force recruits for this fiscal year, and we have exceeded our Reserve Force recruiting target of 3000.

But recruitment is only part of the equation.  We must also ensure that we retain our people.

Over the past three years, we have made significant Quality of Life investments. These have included major reforms to our health care system, increased pay and benefits and improved housing.

At the same time, we have been investing in the education and professional development of all our members.

And we will continue building on these initiatives in the coming years.

Our focus on people, as you will have noted, is not limited to our Regular Force.  We also rely a great deal on our Reserve members to enhance our operational capabilities, both at home and abroad.

As many of you know, last year we began a major restructuring of the Land Force Reserves.

The goal of this effort is to revitalize the Land Force Reserve, increase the number of reserve soldiers and strengthen the Forces’ overall ability to support land force operations in multiple locations.

We are already putting this plan into action by enhancing the size and quality of our Reserve deployments in Bosnia and other deployed missions, and developing new opportunities for training.

We have also focused our recruitment campaign on the Reserves as well as the Regular Force.  Again, the response has been very positive.

My firm belief is that people, both in the Regular and Reserves, are the lifeblood of any military.  But even the best people are ineffective if they don’t have the right tools to do their job.

That’s why another of my key priorities is to ensure that members of the Canadian Forces are equipped with the appropriate equipment and technology.

 You have already been briefed on some of the new equipment we’ve acquired over the last few years, and our modernization initiatives, so I won’t cover that subject again.

Nonetheless, I would reiterate that current operations demonstrate just how critical it is to have modern equipment and to be interoperable with our allies to undertake global operations effectively.

And indeed, the significant role that we are playing in the Campaign Against Terrorism is proof that we have already achieved a high level of interoperability.

In fact, all of our Forces currently deployed to Operation APOLLO are, or will be, fully integrated into the US-led coalition force structure.

But maintaining interoperability into the future will depend in large part on the equipment and technologies we acquire over the next several years.

We are therefore collaborating with Canadian industry and allies, to gain access to leading edge technologies that are already redefining military operations.

For example, upon completion, the Canadian Military Satellite Communications project will provide the Canadian Forces with an effective, interoperable and long-range communications capability to provide the command and control requirements of deployed forces.

Another important project currently underway is the Joint Strike Fighter, an international program aimed at developing an affordable, stealthy, multi-role fighter for a number of participating nations.

We have already received a number of benefits from an initial Canadian investment of $16 million in the first phase of that project.

We are now looking at continuing our participation in the second phase, so that we can leverage new technologies for our current and future defence programs.

Operating effectively in an increasingly high tech environment is key to success in future multinational operations, but being able to deploy rapidly into theatre is another enabler that is key to achieving that success.

And here again, the current campaign in Afghanistan offers us a good example of just how important deployability is to our overall effectiveness.

For example, the closest seaports to our potential area of operations in Northern Afghanistan are Poland, which is 4,470 km away by rail –- or the distance between Whitehorse and Halifax –- or in the Ukraine, which is 3,000 km away –- or the distance from Yellowknife to Montreal.

Obviously this poses a significant challenge to our internal capability to respond and deploy rapidly into theatre.

That is why we are continuing to look carefully at options that will enhance our ability to deploy rapidly -- including, airlift, sealift and air-to-air refueling.

Finally, our experience over the last decade has also demonstrated the importance of operating under a joint umbrella.  By this I mean deploying more than one service to an area of operations to accomplish a given mission.

Already, we are dedicating more resources to improve our joint operations capability.

The creation of the Canadian Forces Joint Operations Group in particular is providing us with the modern, rapidly deployable, and robust command and control, signals and support capability we require for the changing world.

Its effectiveness was clearly shown in Ethiopia and Eritrea and, more recently, in Macedonia.

Interoperability, deployability and jointness will remain the focus of our long-term modernization strategy.

And the $3 billion that the Government has reinvested in Defence in the last three years has certainly helped us stay on track with these efforts.

Of course, since September 11^th, we are facing new challenges and will probably be looking for additional support to deal with increased demands on our organization.

Let me conclude by saying that the Canadian Forces are a highly professional force that is truly multi-purpose and combat-capable.

The fact that we have been asked to play such a significant role in the current campaign against terrorism is proof of this.  The Canadian Forces are among the best in the world and our allies continually seek out our involvement and support.

My job is to continue to make the most of our current capabilities and to lay the foundation for the future –- to keep us relevant and capable of responding to the changing security environment, both at home and abroad.

Just as we are doing now.

In doing so, we will continue to seek the support of both parliamentarians and the Canadian public, and we will continue to promote open and effective communications through all the various mechanisms available to us.

Finally, the Canadian Forces will not stand still, as we cannot afford to be a static or inward looking organization.

We will need to make reasoned but bold investments in the future, to maintain the relevance of the force in this continually changing and challenging world.

I know I can count on your support in this endeavour.

So I will stop here and would be glad to take some of your questions.

Thank you.

Please note this section will be completed just prior to CDS presentation to provide the most up-to-date information.