Un contrat de 800 M$ pour prolonger la vie des hélicoptères militaires CH-146

On the same subject

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  February 7, 2019 | Local, C4ISR, Security

  Top-secret committee to study foreign meddling, military use of Canadians' info

  Rachel Aiello, Ottawa News Bureau Online Producer OTTAWA -- Over the next year, the top-secret National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians plans to probe the threat foreign interference poses to Canada, and examine how the military collects and uses information about Canadians. The committee gave notice this week of its planned studies for the year, all of which will happen behind closed doors. The high-level oversight body was created in 2017, and mirrors similar committees set up in the other "Five Eyes" alliance countries. Members include MPs and Senators, who must have the highest level, or “top secret” security clearance. The committee garnered a higher profile in Canada and abroad after then-member Tony Clement stepped down from all parliamentary roles after revealing he sent sexually explicit images and a video of himself to someone he thought was a consenting female, but who was actually a "foreign actor" seeking to financially extort the long-time MP. Months later, two men in West Africa were arrested and accused of being behind the blackmail attempt. This situation prompted questions over potential security ramifications and the vetting of members of the committee. As the committee looks to the year ahead the first study on its agenda will be a look at the threat of foreign interference to Canada's national security and the measures currently in place to counter it. Then the plan is to move on to a probe of the Canada Border Services Agency's national security and intelligence activities related to enforcing immigration and customs laws. Next up will be a review of "issues of diversity and inclusion in Canada's security and intelligence community." Specifically the committee will look at federal security agencies' progress and consult leaders in these offices to recommend ways to improve the culture and representation within the highest levels of the intelligence community. Lastly, the committee is looking to examine the way the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces collect, use, and disseminate information about Canadian citizens as it conducts defence intelligence activities. The committee's findings and recommendations on the military's treatment of citizens' data will be submitted to the prime minister and the minister of national defence before the end of 2019. Of course, all this work could be usurped by other issues that may arise. The committee can undertake special studies at any time, as it did with the prime minister's troubled India trip in 2018. "Our planned reviews for 2019 will continue to build a picture of the various parts of the security and intelligence community and how it works together to protect our security, our freedoms and our institutions," said chair of the committee Liberal MP David McGuinty in a statement. The 11-member committee has continued to meet despite being having vacancies in both of the spots reserved for Conservative MPs. In addition to Clement's vacancy, the spot held by late-Conservative MP Gord Brown has been vacant since May 2018. There has already been a byelection in the riding he held, where a new Conservative MP has been named. The appointments and necessary clearances rest with the Privy Council Office and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "The Committee is continuing to meet, but is looking forward to welcoming two new members from the Official Opposition as soon as possible," executive director of the committee told CTVNews.ca in a statement. Asked about when the new Conservative members will be named, PMO spokesperson Eleanore Catenaro told CTV News.ca that the processing is "almost complete" and they expect the new additions will be named "in short order." Just before Christmas, the committee issued its first annual report to the prime minister, and a declassified version will be tabled in Parliament within 30 sitting days, meaning it could be April before that happens. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/top-secret-committee-to-study-foreign-meddling-military-use-of-canadians-info-1.4285158

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  November 12, 2018 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land

  Ottawa on track to invest less on new military kit than promised for second year

  OTTAWA — For the second year in a row, the federal government is expected to spend billions of dollars less on new military equipment than promised because of a combination of good and bad news: cost savings on some projects and delays in others. The Trudeau government in 2016 released a new defence policy that included dramatic increases in spending on new aircraft, ships, armoured vehicles and other military equipment over the next 20 years. The investments are vital to replacing the Canadian Forces' fighter jets, ships and various other types of aging equipment with state-of-the-art kit. Yet while new budget documents filed in the House of Commons show the Department of National Defence has so far been given authority to spend $4 billion this fiscal year, the policy had predicted total spending of $6.5 billion. The department does have until March 31 — when the federal government's fiscal year ends — to make up the $2.5-billion difference, but its top civilian official, deputy minister Jody Thomas, admitted Thursday that a large shortfall is likely. Part of the reason is that the department expects to save about $700 million on various projects that ended up costing less than planned, Thomas told The Canadian Press following a committee appearance on Parliament Hill. “We've delivered things more efficiently than was anticipated and so we don't need the money,” she said. “And we can apply it to projects, either new projects or projects that have a cost overrun.” But delays moving some projects through the military procurement system have also caused their fair share of problems, Thomas said, and the department is expecting to have to put off $1 billion to $1.3 billion in purchases it had planned to make this year. “We'd like to (spend) $6 billion every year. Can I guarantee to you that we're going to do that? No, there's slowdowns in projects, there's slowdowns with suppliers, there's changes in scope. Things change,” she said. “I'm hoping to get it below $1 billion. I'm not committing to getting it to below $1 billion. ... We're driving projects to get it as low as possible and spend funds efficiently and effectively. We're not wasting money.” The government spent $2.3 billion less than planned last year. That was also largely because of delays in projects such as the government's multibillion-dollar plan to buy new warships, though also because some things ended up costing less than expected. The government does deserve credit for having increased investments in equipment to levels not seen since the height of the war in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. “And if they can actually move as much as the deputy (minister) was saying, and they only leave $1 billion on the table, that will be the best year in the last several decades,” said Perry, who has previously warned that delays in the procurement system could derail the defence policy. “But there are a bunch of impacts from not being able to spend money on schedule. One is you don't have the actual gear to do what you want. And project budgets lose purchasing power when money is not spent on schedule. So it's not good to have delays.” https://windsorstar.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/ottawa-on-track-to-invest-less-on-new-military-kit-than-promised-for-second-year

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  April 24, 2023 | Local, Other Defence

  Canada's defence spending hasn't made it a NATO pariah — but that could change, ex-diplomat warns | CBC News

  Canada's apparent unwillingness (or inability) to meet NATO's defence spending target has not yet dented the country's reputation among its allies, says one of the country's top former diplomats.