Media/Parliamentary Scan

Office of the Auditor General of Canada

(08 July 2020)

iPolitics

(08 July 2020)

One of the focal points of Strong, Secure, Engaged was to ensure the military was properly equipped.

"Providing (the women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces) the training, equipment and care they deserve is the most important objective of this policy," reads a line from the opening paragraph of Sajjan's opening message in more than 100-page policy.

Upon being re-elected, Sajjan was again reminded of his responsibility to "ensure the Canadian Armed Forces have the capabilities and equipment required to uphold their responsibilities," in the mandate letter assigned to him by Trudeau.

In an emailed statement to iPolitics, Conservative Defence Critic James Bezan said "effective and efficient supply chains are crucial to the operating capability of the Canadian Armed Forces."

"Our military heroes rely on these supply chains to defend Canadians at home and abroad. It is clear that more work needs to be done in order to make these supply chains better for our men and women and uniform," Bezan said.

Maclean's

(08 July 2020)

The AG found problems up and down National Defence's supply chain, including with stock management and an unnecessary reliance on commercial transportation. A lot of the "high-priority" requests also weren't justified as such, gumming up the system.

We found here the closest thing to a hockey metaphor (and it was a stretch) in this year's spring reports: the audit indicated National Defence "did not adequately forecast its needs for materiel to be able to position it close to where it would be needed." In other words, they did not skate to where the puck was going. Ouch.

Question Period

(25 May 2020)

"Mr. Speaker, in January, instead of saving PPE for our health care workers, the health minister decided to ship it off to communist China. This just added to Beijing's growing stockpile. Now the Liberals are desperately trying to procure millions of masks. Where from? China. When they actually get a shipment, they are defective and cannot be used.

Can the minister [PSPC] guarantee that her lack in ensuring the availability of N95 masks in no way contributed to the 29-plus cases in our armed forces personnel who are supporting our seniors in their homes?"

Question Period

(25 May 2020)

"Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to join the member in thanking our Canadian Armed Forces for the extraordinary work they are doing in both Quebec and Ontario. They are saving Canadian lives. We have also made extraordinary efforts to ensure that they have access to the personal protective equipment and the training they need to be safe while doing their job, but, as the member indicated, a number of them have fallen ill from this illness.

We have had discussions with the general responsible and he assures us that every effort is being made to acknowledge, recognize and support the members who are doing that work, and that their pay reflects that."