James Bezan

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 18th, 2023]

With regard to media reports that Canadian soldiers in Latvia have had to purchase their own modern ballistic helmets equipped with built-in hearing protection: (a) why was such equipment not provided by the government to all Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) soldiers serving in Latvia; (b) will the soldiers who had to purchase these helmets with their own funds be reimbursed; and (c) what is the timeline for when these helmets, or ones of a similar quality, will be provided to all CAF soldiers participating in theatre or live fire exercises?

[Online News Act, June 20th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, that is incredibly rich coming from a minister who used to decry any closure motions when he was in opposition.

I want to point out that, from the time of Tommy Douglas to the time of Thomas Mulcair, over those 14 Parliaments, the NDP only supported closure 17 times. With today's vote, we are at over 40 times in the past two years that the NDP has supported its Liberal partners in shutting down democracy and debate in this Parliament.

That is shameful behaviour. How can the NDP members stand over there and decry and heckle me now, while they are supporting one of the most unethical and most corrupt governments that we have seen in Canadian history?

On the issue of the bill, I will just say this: The minister stands here and says he is supporting local media. The Liberal government has not supported our local community newspapers or stood up for the local content creators. By going forward with this bill, it is putting more power in the hands of Rogers, Bell and the CBC, rather than actually supporting those local content creators. They are demising our democracy in this country by shutting down freedom of the press through this bill, by cutting off the voices of those who want to be independent on the Internet. That is—

[National Defence, June 19th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, just to go on with the letter from CDAI, they said:

Russia's brutal war...in Ukraine...as well as the continuing expansion of the military arsenals of authoritarian regimes...should have prompted a re-assessment of our defence posture.

The reality is that well-connected consultants, big bankers and wealthy bondholders get more from the Liberal government than our troops. We know that the deficit that is going to the big bankers is over $40 billion. We know that McKinsey and other Liberal-connected consultants are getting billions of dollars every year, while our troops do without.

In this fiscal year that just ended in March 2023, we had $2.5 billion of lapsed military spending that will never be available again. That has dropped our GDP ratio, which was supposed to be at 1.33%, down to 1.29%. The difference between what was supposed to be spent on military expenditures and where we are at relative to the 2% of GDP shows that we are actually $20 billion short.

That is unacceptable. People cannot buy house insurance when their home is—

[National Defence, June 19th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to be able to stand today and address a question I originally raised on April 17. It is based on a letter that came from the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, where 60 plus prominent Canadians who are military leaders, former ministers of defence and other parliamentarians from both sides of the aisle, both Conservative and Liberal, as well as a former chief justice, Beverley McLachlin, all wrote a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, which was published as an open letter. It says, “There is no more important responsibility for the federal government than protecting Canadians against all threats—foreign and domestic”. Then it goes on to say, “Now is the time to fully discharge the commitments we have made to our allies and partners in sharing the burden of collective security, commitments which are essential to safeguard our peace, prosperity and way of life [for all Canadians]”.

In that quote, they are referring to the commitment we made to NATO, at the Wales Summit in 2014, that we would spend our 2% within 10 years. That was nine years ago. We know the NATO summit in Vilnius is coming up this July. Of course, there is going to be extra pressure on the Government of Canada, under the Prime Minister, to come up with that 2%. We know from the Pentagon leaks that happened just recently that the Prime Minister said there is no way Canada is ever going to reach that 2% commitment.

Our other collective security agreement that is important to us is NORAD and NORAD modernization. We know the Americans are concerned about that. The letter from the Conference of Defence Associations Institute further reads, “Years of restraint, cost cutting, downsizing and deferred investments, have meant that Canada's defence capabilities have atrophied.” They have atrophied so badly under the Liberals that, today, we are 10,000 troops short of where we should be to be able to fulfill the commitments we have here domestically, and for what we are able to do in NATO, especially the missions we have undertaken as the leadership in the enhanced forward position in setting up a battalion in Latvia and leading that battalion. We are slow in getting our numbers up to over 750 troops.

We know we were not able to participate in the recent military air force exercises that 26 nations of NATO participated in. Canada was a no-show because we do not have the equipment or the personnel to fly the planes we have today; we are short on pilots.

We know that we are short on military procurement, although there have been some announcements which have recently come from the government, and we are going ahead with the Canadian surface combatants that were originally ordered by the former Conservative government. We know that the F-35s are finally being bought. The Prime Minister said, in 2015, that he would never buy the F-35s, but finally, we are purchasing them. However, we do not necessarily have the right people doing the procurement; according to the Conference of Defence Associations Institute and other sources, we know we are short 4,200 military procurement experts within the Department of National Defence, as well as at PSPC Canada.

We see this happening. We are hearing stories coming from the front in Latvia, where our troops are actually having to go out and buy their own helmets, hearing protection, radio communications equipment and flak jackets because the kits they are getting from the Canadian Armed Forces under the Liberals are inadequate. In a letter that was recently leaked, one commander wrote to Ottawa saying that it is embarrassing, as they have seen the Danes walking around in new Canadian equipment that was purchased from Canadian companies, the very equipment that our troops should be using and wearing. Unfortunately, the government has not been able to carry off those procurements, leaving our troops vulnerable and embarrassed. Of course, we also know that our troops in Poland were not provided with any meal vouchers, and they are out of pocket for thousands of dollars that the government has not been able to reimburse them for. That is shameful.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, June 6th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, it is again a shame that we are moving to closure. We are undermining the parliamentary democracy we have, and the most shameful thing is that the government is being supported by the NDP, which is supposed to be an opposition party but is acting like it is a bunch of Liberals.

Throughout history, normally a government that moves closure can count on only maybe once or twice during a parliamentary session getting the support of any of the opposition parties to support a closure motion like we have right now, stymying debate. In fact, if we look back, since the time of Tommy Douglas under the NDP until Thomas Mulcair, the NDP supported closure only 14 times in the 17 Parliaments during that time span. However, here we are today, under the leadership of the NDP leader, the member for Burnaby South, and the NDP is going to support closure for the 35th time. What has happened to the NDP that it has squandered its principles under Tommy Douglas, of being an effective opposition, and is instead supporting the Liberals and undermining our constitutional right to debate all the bills they bring before the House?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Return, June 5th, 2023]

With regard to the Department of National Defence (DND) and the government’s announcement in August 2019 titled “Canada negotiates new armoured combat support vehicles”: (a) on what date will the 360 light armoured vehicles (LAV) from General Dynamic Land Systems Canada be put into service; (b) what are the names of each variant type of LAV purchased; (c) how many of each variant type was purchased; and (d) on what date is DND expected to complete the sign off or final approvals for the LAVs which are still at General Dynamic Land Systems Canada?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Return, June 5th, 2023]

With regard to the federal civil service, as of April 1, 2023, broken down by department, agency, Crown corporation or other government entity: (a) how many employees or full time equivalents are currently employed; (b) what was the amount spent on salaries, benefits and other compensation in the last fiscal year; and (c) what is the breakdown of (a) and (b), for government entities with both civilian and enlisted or officer employees such as the Canadian Armed Forces or the RCMP, by type of employee?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Return, June 5th, 2023]

With regard to personnel employed by the Department of National Defence (DND) or the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF): (a) how many individuals are currently employed by (i) DND, (ii) CAF; (b) how many of the individuals in (a) are (i) civilians, (ii) regular forces, (iii) reserve forces; and (c) of the individuals in (a)(ii), what is the breakdown by (i) Canadian Army, (ii) Royal Canadian Navy, (iii) Royal Canadian Air Force, (iv) Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, (v) Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, and what is the rank for each?

[Committees of the House, June 5th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary knows full well that we are debating the budget bill. This has nothing to do with the budget.

Second, because this has relevance, the Speaker, on Friday, committed to looking into all the problems we had during that vote.

[Crimea, May 17th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, today, on the 79th commemoration of Sürgünlik, the genocide of Crimean Tatars, we look back with horror and sadness as we remember how Joseph Stalin and his Communist thugs forcibly deported over 200,000 Tatar men, women and children by packing them into cattle cars and shipping them off to the gulag.

Nearly 10,000 people died during this brutal journey, and many more died under inhumane conditions when they were relocated. This genocide stands out among the many atrocities carried out by Stalin and his henchmen, and we remember all the victims.

Although the Crimean Tatars heroically returned to their homeland by the thousands during the 1980s and 1990s, Vladimir Putin, just like dictator Joseph Stalin, is again waging a genocidal war against Ukraine and the Crimean Tatars. Since his illegal invasion in 2014, Putin has targeted the Tatars and shut down their mosques, their independent press and their legislative assembly, the Mejlis. Moreover, he is carrying out a slew of horrific human rights abuses against them.

Putin and his barbarians must get out of Ukraine. Crimea is and will always be Ukraine, homeland of the Tatars.