National Defence committee  I would simply add that a good example of the difficulty they're in is given by the period in Afghanistan, where so many of our obviously well-trained personnel were deployed, when there was a dearth of available personnel to carry out the training of recent recruits and other personnel at various other levels requiring additional training.

National Defence committee  There are two answers to the question. First of all, of course, yes, that would require an increase of that magnitude. The alternative, of course, would be a change in the Canada First defence strategy to stay within whatever limitations are set by the budget. Brian, would you care to add anything?

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Conference of Defence Associations, which this year celebrates its 80th year of existence, is very pleased to have been asked to testify before your committee. Today our 51 associations continue, as have their predecessors since 1932, to consider problems of national defence, to coordinate the activities of our associations on matters of interest to all services of the Canadian Forces, to make such recommendations to the Government of Canada as may appear expedient, and to promote the welfare of the Canadian Forces as a whole.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Conference of Defence Associations is grateful for this opportunity to participate in these consultations. Firstly, allow me to say that the Conference of Defence Associations is pleased with the manner in which the Government of Canada has responded to two of the priorities for funding which we identified in our April submission to Minister Flaherty.

National Defence committee  And Richards, of course, reports to General Jones as the NATO Commander in Afghanistan, overseeing the three regions, and eventually, one assumes, the fourth region. We should not lose sight of the fact that the NATO nations in Afghanistan, at least the longer-in-the-tooth members of NATO, have had a number of decades of operations with the American forces as members of NATO, quite obviously, so accommodations, in terms of operational requirements and requests and that sort of thing, ought not to be that new, certainly, and not difficult.

National Defence committee  I think it would be a serious blow to the alliance, quite obviously, and you can be sure that the alliance members aren't hoping that this would happen at all. As has happened in the past for as far back as you want to go in the alliance history, the members of the alliance have not let that sort of thing happen.

National Defence committee  The debate over the contribution of resources to Afghanistan by NATO nations, of course, is ongoing. We recognize that there has been less than a rush to the gates to provide additional troops and equipment. I should point out that if we look at the history of NATO since its inception in 1951, we should not be surprised that there appears to be a crisis right now in the response that is expected of some of the NATO nations.

National Defence committee  I would point out that I'm not familiar with their statistics. I suspect, though, that focusing on that aspect of the operation over there is less than instructive and is alarmist, to say the least. We can't verify the accuracy of their statistics, and so I don't spend a lot of time looking at those.

National Defence committee  I would add simply that the timing of the VBIED, the bicycle-borne IED, and the lives of the four Canadian soldiers at the opening of Parliament was not just a coincidence.

National Defence committee  You have a point there. Indeed, Mr. Chairman, the fact remains, though, that there is a trend up north. There was an improvement up north because of the presence, basically, of the forces, originally of Operation Enduring Freedom and later NATO. But I guess the best way we could look at it is to be optimistic; there was a trend, and we can only hope that it will also obtain in the south.

National Defence committee  Thank you for that question. Mr. Chairman, I think it's been reported fairly widely that one of the things the Canadian Forces would dearly like to continue to have from Canada is support for the mission they're doing there. Indications that there isn't overwhelming support would have some impact.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chairman, clearly it's not just Quebeckers who perceive the situation this way. We've noted it across Canada and elsewhere in the world. I tend to agree with Mr. Maloney when it comes to the media reporting on incidents in Afghanistan. All I'm saying is that there have been some major changes since 2001.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I will make a presentation, and Colonel MacDonald will assist me in responding to questions at the end of the presentations. Mr. Chairman, the Conference of Defence Associations is grateful for this opportunity to comment on Canada's military commitment to Afghanistan.