Minister's message

I am pleased to present the Departmental Results Report for fiscal year 2018-19. Over the course of the year, military and civilian personnel across National Defence made substantial progress in implementing Canada’s 20-year defence policy: Strong, Secure, Engaged^{Footnote i}.

Taking care of our people is the focus of Strong, Secure, Engaged. Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members are expected to step up to defend Canada and Canadian values whenever called upon. They are best able to do that when we put in place polices and initiatives that support them, and their families, at all stages of their careers. To that end, we implemented initiatives such as the Military Spousal Employment Initiative, Full-Time Summer Employment for Reservists, and the Seamless Canada initiative with provinces and territories to ease the burden of moving for military families.

Taking care of our people includes providing them with the right equipment, infrastructure, and services to succeed. That is why our government released the Defence Investment Plan in May 2018. The plan is updated annually and offers Canadians greater transparency on defence spending. It sets out the government’s key equipment, information technology, and infrastructure investments as well as support contracts. In this way, Canada’s defence and security industries are also aware of future investment opportunities that are designed to deliver core military capabilities and generate jobs.

In fact, important milestones were reached during fiscal year 2018-19 on many capital investments. For example, in December 2018, we celebrated the delivery of our 500^th Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle, which performed extremely well when CAF members assisted provinces with much-needed flood relief. Work continued on the Arctic and Offshore and Patrol Ships, which will help us patrol our coastline and safeguard Canadian sovereignty. And the first of six of these ships is scheduled to be delivered in winter 2020.

Having the right equipment contributes to the effectiveness of CAF members when they are deployed on operations in Canada, in North America, and all over the world. From April 2018 to the end of March 2019, almost 1,500 CAF members answered the call to help Canadians during floods, fires, and storms. During the same period, the CAF stood alert through NORAD to protect our shared continent in partnership with the United States. In addition, almost 8,600 military personnel were deployed alongside international allies and partners in the interest of global security and stability — for example, in Mali, Latvia, Ukraine, and the Middle East.

I encourage Canadians and parliamentarians to read this results report, which contains more details about the policies, programs, projects, and missions that were the focus of our efforts in 2018-19.