On this episode of The Blueprints: A Conservative Podcast, host Jason Kenney is joined by the Defence Critic, James Suzanne, MP for Selkirk-Interlake Eastman in the beautiful province of Manitoba. They discuss all things related to Remembrance day, military recruitment, military procurement, and much more!
00:00:00.000hello and welcome once again to the blueprints this is canada's conservative podcast i'm your
00:00:15.880host jamie schmale member of parliament for halliburton core the lakes brock with new content
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00:00:25.780this program of course as always if you can't listen or watch it in its entirety right this
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00:00:36.380there another great show lined up for you today we're talking about remembrance day we're talking
00:00:41.720about veterans we're talking about military procurement all of the above and much more
00:00:47.040because of course friday is remembrance day and remember all those that serve fought for our
00:00:51.440freedom either in conflict or at home or abroad we we want to remember those that put it all on
00:00:57.280the line for us so to bring on a very special guest a guy who's come on before talked to us before good
00:01:03.360friend of the show james suzanne member of parliament for selkirk interlake eastman in the beautiful
00:01:07.580province of manitoba so the defense critic thanks for joining us thanks for having me back on the show
00:01:11.720all right so of course our veterans are are all the focus this week it's it's a very important week
00:01:18.280a week that canadians remember those who have served who put their lives on the line for the
00:01:24.040country and for what we believe in as a country this is a great opportunity for us to remember that
00:01:30.140sacrifice honor those that have served and thank those that are currently serving protect us here
00:01:35.780at home and protect those around the world who can't protect themselves and project canadian values
00:01:40.160and interests on the international level you know we uh this week we got today is is indigenous
00:01:47.380veterans day you know we have had you know just past weekend veterans suppers and they're going on
00:01:52.500all week right up until remembrance day and it is a way for us um to to show our appreciation for those
00:01:58.180that have served and um it's also time to talk about you know the the the specific battles that they've
00:02:05.700been in and the effects of those battles uh including our modern day veterans who serve in places like
00:02:11.940iraq and afghanistan and bosnia and uh knowing that often they've come back um with with physical injury
00:02:19.060as well as those that we can't see yeah absolutely and and the toll i think is something especially if
00:02:24.900it's it's a mental health issue or the post-traumatic stress disorder stuff you don't see right off the
00:02:30.340bat it's not kind of visible you hear about it after the fact and that's something i think the government
00:02:34.660has has an has definitely responsibility to do i just don't think this government is fully following
00:02:40.740through on that commitment no and and you know they uh talked the talk but they haven't walked
00:02:46.900that walk and we do need to do more in providing those supports and making sure people are getting
00:02:52.740the help that they deserve as well as their families who are the front line in in dealing with the
00:02:58.740aftermath of operational stress stress injuries so let's keep uh those those programs moving forward
00:03:06.260and adjusting to the needs of of today's veteran when you talk about today's veteran those serving
00:03:11.780today we just saw a few reports and you're on the defense committee obviously the critic you've seen
00:03:16.980the numbers of how short the canadian armed forces are in terms of recruitment why do you think that is
00:03:22.420and what does the military need to do get those numbers up that they are operational when called upon
00:03:27.860well the liberals have completely demoralized our troops
00:03:32.500they have essentially made those that serve feel like they're unwanted they have not taken the time
00:03:41.220and an effort to go out there and aggressively recruit and bring people back in we have to remind
00:03:45.860everyone that that being a member of the canadian armed forces is an incredibly honorable uh career path
00:03:51.940to take uh you're you're going to do some amazing things uh and uh you know there is the three different
00:03:58.820divisions of the armed forces that you can serve in on well if you count special operation forces
00:04:03.140essentially there is there's four with infantry special ops navy and air force and you know but
00:04:09.540we've got a government here that uh has gone completely woke uh that they have now pushed that down onto
00:04:17.060uh the recruitment uh component of the armed forces and so we're not getting enough people signed up and
00:04:23.620and uh that is disturbing because that impacts our ability to operate as an armed forces it's impacting
00:04:32.100our ability to deal with the crises that come from uh here at home and so you know general air the chief
00:04:38.340of the defense staff has said they're down about 10 000 operators right now uh according to former chief
00:04:44.340of defense staff general hillier he's hearing that number is more like 45 000 is all we have is deployable
00:04:50.020personnel that doesn't put us in a place where we can send out a battle group never mind a division
00:04:57.860to go and help our allies if we are needed in eastern europe to deal with russia's aggression in
00:05:04.100ukraine or if you know god forbid russia even pushes it farther and invades one of our nato allies and
00:05:09.220then article 5 is in effect and we have to deploy um never mind our ability to project our strength in the
00:05:14.980arctic so the liberals have done a terrible job at procuring but at this point in time we don't even
00:05:21.860have enough pilots to put in the old rusted out f-18s they bought from australia never mind buying new
00:05:29.700f-35s which they still haven't signed the deal on or putting new navy ships uh surfers combatants out in
00:05:36.100the sea or you know deploying troops across canada deal with natural disaster as we witnessed that it was a
00:05:43.140big effort to to get enough troops into nova scotia in brunswick to deal with the aftermath of hurricane
00:05:50.740fiona i remember running in the 2015 election and and getting hit on both sides the ndp and the liberals
00:05:58.020talking about the replacement of the the f-18s they're bringing in we wanted to bring in of course
00:06:04.580our government wanted to bring in the f-35s and the liberals and ndp wanted nothing to do with that
00:06:09.140we wasted about six or seven years when these planes could have been at least in our possession
00:06:16.660or being trained upon all that time's lost and we bought like you said these older planes from
00:06:22.340australia and and really when you're talking about bringing our military up to battle ready status or
00:06:29.780even the ability to deploy if they needed in a disaster um it it's it's gone downhill under this
00:06:35.780government of course the 1990s is infamous infamous famously or infamously known as a decade of
00:06:41.620darkness it's like the cycles are repeating itself here and you know it it even goes back further
00:06:48.100than decade of darkness because decade darkness was terrible and military was dramatically underfunded
00:06:52.820it's underfunded to the state despite the goal of this government they talk the talk that they're
00:06:56.660going to increase military spending and it's going to be up above 1.34 percent of gdp uh there's money
00:07:03.780in the books well guess what they're three billion dollars short this year on what they're supposed
00:07:07.300to spend on new equipment the last five years before that they're spending two billion dollars
00:07:12.580a year less than what they should have been so we have all this lapse funding that's now over 15
00:07:17.620billion dollars that they say they spent but they never did spend that means that there isn't
00:07:21.620equipment out there that means that we aren't hiring up and recruiting new soldiers seamen uh sailors and
00:07:28.180an air crew uh you know we can't put planes in the air we can't put ships to sea we can't deploy
00:07:33.940forces as as required and that is you know demoralizing for those that serve because you sign up
00:07:41.140because you want to deploy you want to go out there and do amazing things and and be part of a of the
00:07:47.860camaraderie and fellowship uh that comes with being a member of the canadian armed forces and uh instead
00:07:54.660you know you don't have enough people there to train they don't have that experience level anymore
00:07:58.980because they're leaving in in in droves uh so there is a need to change uh how the the the the government
00:08:08.740manages canadian armed forces that means we have to change out who who the government is so i i'd say
00:08:14.900that as a conservative government that we will respect and honor those that serve and we'll get the kit
00:08:20.100bought a lot quicker uh by breaking down uh some of those barriers on how we go about procuring we'll
00:08:26.980get rid of the gatekeepers and and that starts with uh a lot of the rules and regulations have
00:08:32.340been adopted by treasury board and and public service uh pub you know procurement canada public
00:08:37.860services so you know there needs to be a way to get things bought especially now that it's impacting our
00:08:44.260not only our ability to deal with a much more dangerous world as we witnessed putin and his war machine0.98
00:08:49.700and ukraine but also the threats coming from the communist regime in beijing about invading neighboring
00:08:54.900taiwan we have to be on a war footing and we're anything but because the liberals have been lethargic
00:09:02.180and they've allowed our our armed forces to atrophy the military really is an organization that like
00:09:08.900everybody else has to compete for the bodies right they have to compete with the private sector they have
00:09:13.380to compete with the different agencies within the public sector to get the bodies they need and and
00:09:19.620and one of the attractions as you pointed out earlier would be you know the the honor of
00:09:24.740serving and and being able to deploy and and help others when they're in a time of need
00:09:31.780we also have the piece of being trained and working on the latest equipment which we are
00:09:36.100severely lacking as you just pointed out this is this is this is a problem that has building for
00:09:42.660years and years and years under this liberal rule they're they're not giving that incentive piece
00:09:48.420to hey you we have the latest equipment here we're going to train you on that we're going to provide
00:09:53.620a career for you here right now it doesn't seem to have that that that piece to it and that piece
00:09:59.460seems to be missing unfortunately and it has really impacted um you know people that have been new
00:10:06.260recruits that they've got in they've had to wait months to get into basic training because there's just
00:10:10.740nobody there to help train them up uh you're missing that middle management those those you know uh
00:10:17.780veterans that that have served in afghanistan that that are the you know master corporals and the
00:10:23.380sergeants sergeant majors that walk into you know basic training and and uh and training up and you
00:10:28.500know petty officers and warrant officers and you know so so when you don't have that that skill set then
00:10:34.500people are waiting because there's only so many out there that can they're able to do that training
00:10:38.340and then after you get through basic then you're you're starting to go down your your career path
00:10:44.660and you've decided what what specialization that you want to have and get trained in it and i hear
00:10:49.620that some people are sitting around you know 18 months to 24 months before they even get in on the
00:10:55.620course that is what's undermining morale that is what's you know holding people back from from from
00:11:02.660their you know career goals and aspirations and that's why we have to really invest heavily into
00:11:10.180the recruitment piece so we can get operators get them trained up get them so they're in a position
00:11:16.660to to deploy and uh do do the uh hard work but honorable job of of being a member of the canadian armed
00:11:23.060forces another piece of this has been in the national media recently is arctic sovereignty i know that's
00:11:28.820something you're very passionate about but when we're talking about getting the numbers up in the
00:11:34.100recruitment phase getting the proper equipment we don't really have either functioning properly
00:11:42.260because of this liberal government that could actually protect our arctic or at least have our
00:11:47.220stake in it because we know there are other countries that are very interested in that piece of land
00:11:53.940yeah we're so we're doing the study right now actually at the national defense committee and
00:11:58.180on our arctic sovereignty and arctic defense and the united states expects us to take care of our
00:12:04.180backyard you know the arctic is for the most part canada's backyard and certainly we got you know the
00:12:10.340the danes with greenland we got the americans in alaska but we have our responsibility to continental
00:12:16.340security so when we talk arctic security we're talking about continental security and you know it's been a
00:12:22.020long-standing relationship that the americans expect us to protect the northern approaches and they'll
00:12:28.580worry about you know everything else so when we have a north warning system that's becoming obsolete very
00:12:36.340quickly here and a lack of investment at this point in time into making sure that we have you know new
00:12:45.380radar systems installed that are over the horizon radar systems that we have low earth orbit satellites
00:12:51.860that can monitor 24 7 eyes on every square inch of the arctic uh updating and expanding our radar sat
00:12:59.700constellation you know deploying um unmanned vehicles whether it's below ice or above ice we have to have
00:13:07.540that that that that technology and and canada should be leading on it but right now we're seem to
00:13:13.540have to uh have a laissez-faire uh approach um and we're still 10 years out from those uh investments
00:13:21.380happening and being operational we don't have 10 years if you look at the world around us and the threats that we're
00:13:27.540facing in the arctic you know the the people's liberation army navy from china has more icebreakers now than canada the united states combined
00:13:35.540and they're not even an arctic nation they're near arctic but they're not an arctic nation and they
00:13:42.100have as part of their belt road initiative the polar silk road and so they have an interest in resource
00:13:48.980development and economic activity uh in in the arctic uh and and canada needs to make sure that we're
00:13:56.180exercising our sovereignty over uh the arctic including all the archipelagos as well as the northwest passage
00:14:04.340which unfortunately our adversaries see as international water so it takes military
00:14:11.780equipment is is something in this country we haven't done well for a while if if if we need this
00:14:16.980equipment now i don't trust this government to be able to get what we what we need in time for
00:14:23.940you know just to just to just to keep up with the uh playing field here i it just doesn't seem possible
00:14:29.860we're going to have to have some priorities and and what what's important and make sure those
00:14:33.620investments happen first uh and uh that's the thing that uh pier pauliev i know as our leader is
00:14:39.700looking at uh and how can we procure a lot faster you know how much more can we buy off the shelf
00:14:46.420rather than canadianizing every piece of kit that we use uh and at the same time still support industries
00:14:52.500that we have here but where we don't you know then how do we go to the open market and get what we need
00:14:57.860so that our troops have all the uh equipment to go along with the skills that they're going to develop
00:15:03.940in the canadian armed forces all right perfect well i appreciate the opportunity anytime thank you so
00:15:09.300much for coming on the show as you know i always give the guests the last word so if there's anything
00:15:12.980you want to say this uh being the week of remembrance week uh remembrance day on friday the floor is yours
00:15:18.900i'll just say this that um for all those that have served and those that are currently serving and those who
00:15:23.300will serve in the future thank you for keeping count of the true north strong free thank you for
00:15:28.660going out there and standing with our allies and protecting those that can't protect themselves you
00:15:33.300know all too often we take for granted uh our armed forces not realizing that they are standing on the
00:15:38.580wall 24 7. you know and the norad mission is that they got you know uh they have the watch 24 7.
00:15:45.220uh and uh our navy is always ready to sail and engage any uh threats that are coming our way
00:15:52.660we can never just um take them for granted because we exist as a nation because they are there to
00:15:58.740defend us james ben member of parliament for selkirk interlake eastman in the beautiful province of
00:16:04.020manitoba also the defense critic we appreciate his time we appreciate your time as well please remember
00:16:08.980new content every single tuesday 1 30 p.m eastern time please like comment subscribe subscribe share
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