Prepare to move...

Gordon O'Connor gave his first speech as Minister of National Defence yesterday, to the Conference of Defence Associations and CDA Institute. I was impressed by both the content of the speech and the clear language with which it was expressed.

O'Connor started off with praise for the academic defence community:

Alors que je commence mon mandat comme ministre de la Défense nationale, je suis heureux d'avoir la possibilité de travailler avec vous et avec tous les autres membres du milieu de la défense canadienne.

Je pense notamment à la communauté académique.

Lorsque j'étais un jeune soldat, il était difficile d'obtenir de l'information publique sur les questions de sécurité et de défense.

Aujourd'hui, grâce au travail de la communauté académique, les questions de sécurité et de défense occupent une place sans précédent dans le domaine public.

C'est là une contribution exceptionnelle, et elle doit continuer. Je suis donc un grand partisan de la communauté académique de défense.

I'm hardly an academic, and those who know me know full well the deep and abiding cynicism I hold for academia. Having said that, national defence is an area of governmental responsibility requiring a great deal of planning and thought. Relying solely on politicians or uniformed personnel to address every issue in the vast scope of this field is simply unwise. We need to talk more about defence and security issues in this country, and the MND's tip of the hat to the defence community was a welcome sign that he appreciates that fact.

O'Connor's reiteration of the three ordered priorities for DND was also on point. Defence of Canada, North America, and Canadian interests in the rest of the world - in that order - simply makes sense.

Oh, the predictable hysterics about further integration with the U.S. military are already coming from the predictable sources. But when it comes to continental defence, a high degree of integration is a textbook no-brainer.

I especially like the expansion of the NORAD agreement:

NORAD is a key element of the Canada-US defence relationship. For close to 50 years, it has watched over the skies of North America and protected Canadian and American citizens. The current NORAD agreement will expire in May, and this government is committed to renewing and strengthening it — notably by giving NORAD a role to play in maritime surveillance and early warning.

Integration is not submission, and those who paint it that way are either dishonest or uniformed. A seamless game plan for Canada and the United States focusing on areas of common interest that lays out who exactly is responsible for what is, without question, in Canada's best interest.

O'Connor spoke forcefully on the need for military involvement in Afghanistan, as a prime example of our international responsibilities:

As I mentioned earlier, it's important to address threats to our security before they reach our shores.

That's precisely what we're doing in Afghanistan: our troops in that country contribute to the safety of Canadians here at home by ensuring that Afghanistan does not once again become a base for the spread of terrorism.

It's also important for Canadians to better understand our commitment to Afghanistan. Our success in that country depends on the support of Canadians and the Conservative government is determined to openly explain the nature of our commitment in Afghanistan in Parliament.

Great stuff, that: here's our doctrine, here's how Afstan fits into that profile, and by the way, we're not afraid to discuss and debate something so important in Parliament (which should have happened from the beginning). Well said.

The Minister then talked about rebuilding the Canadian Forces. It's nice to see a Minister of the Crown admit the Forces need rebuilding, instead of vainly defending the government's shameful record of neglect.

Increasing the strength of the Canadian Forces to at least 75,000 Regular force personnel is a clear priority. We also intend to increase the Reserve force personnel by 10,000.
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Le recrutement, l'instruction et le maintien de l'effectif sont donc au cœur de notre plan. Pour être honnête, si nous ne pouvons pas recruter et former du nouveau personnel, nous ne pourrons pas mettre en œuvre nos idées pour l'avenir de nos forces armées.

For those with french-language skills even rustier than mine, that last paragraph deserves at least a rough translation (very rough, with apologies for the mangling):

Recruiting, training, and maintaining effective strength are at the heart of our plan. To be honest, if we can't recruit and train new personnel, we won't be able to follow through on our ideas for the future of our armed forces.

People are at the heart of the Conservative vision for defence. O'Connor gets that the biggest challenge the CF faces doesn't have to do with equipment - enough money will fix that problem quickly enough. No, the greatest threat to our military is the lack of sufficiently qualified, trained, and motivated men and women in uniform to do all the things Canadians ask of them.

As he said, if we can't fix that, we can't fix the rest of it. And he's willing to consider some fairly creative solutions to the training problem:

Ceci dit, nous devons faire plus qu'augmenter notre nombre de recrues. Nous devons également nous assurer qu'elles reçoivent la formation dont elles ont besoin dans un délai raisonnable. En effet, il est inutile d'ouvrir nos rangs à plusieurs milliers de nouvelles personnes si la plupart d'entre elles demeurent inactives en raison de goulots d'étranglement dans notre système d'instruction.

To meet this requirement, we'll expand the existing recruitment and training system, as well as look at alternate ways to increase personnel levels, such as temporarily tasking selected operational units to act as trainers. (my emphasis)

You know, I never in a million years would have thought of that, but I'm damned glad someone in a position of influence did.

Another block in the foundation required to rebuild the CF is obviously equipment. I commented recently on O'Connor's previous remarks about transparency in procurement, but his words yesterday added some much-needed context that put my fears to rest:

Over the last 20 years, it's taken an average of nearly nine years to get from identifying an operational deficiency to awarding a contract. And there are too many examples to name of projects that have taken too long.

Our acquisition process needs to be fair. It needs to be transparent. And most of all, it needs to give the Canadian Forces the equipment they need when they need it. (my emphasis again)

The Minister very succinctly summed up the government's most rational position on Arctic sovereignty:

International law and diplomacy are important instruments in the protection of our sovereignty. However, our claims must also be backed by strong military capabilities. This means the capacity for both surveillance and presence over every part of Canada's Arctic territory.

If sovereignty actually means "supreme authority within a territory," the credible threat of national force must remain a part of Canada's strategy.

The best part of O'Connor's speech came at the end, though, as he laid out his clear and concise vision for the CF:

I can summarize this government's defence vision quite succinctly: it's about having a three-ocean navy, a robust army, and a revitalized air force. They would all operate as part of an integrated and effective Canadian Forces team anywhere in the world.

Of course, it remains to be seen how much support the government will be willing to provide O'Connor and DND to get the job done, and whether even full support will be enough. But this is, by any reasonable comparison with any other Canadian government in living memory, a most promising start.