Mr. Speaker, I thank the House for its generosity. I will be sharing my time with the hon. members for Lakeland, Edmonton East and Compton—Stanstead.
It is a pleasure today to speak to Bill C-25. Men and women in military uniform have been for a long time serving our country with courage, distinction and in silence. They have worked hard. They are busier now than they have ever been and have engaged in some 17 military operations since the Korean war. Yet their morale is the lowest it has been in years.
Why is that so? There are many reasons for it. The government had an opportunity but it is disappointing that Bill C-25 did not get to the heart of that.
My colleague from Calgary East put forth numerous constructive suggestions to the government. It did not adopt any of them. The suggestions would have gone a long way to making Bill C-25 the bill that it should be, one that restores accountability, transparency and honour to the military justice system.
We wanted to make the inspector general independent which would have given the IG more power to represent our people in uniform. On reforming the office of the judge advocate general we asked that the JAG be separated from the chain of command. In other words it would enable the JAG to have more power to investigate problems within the military.
A situation is taking place in our military that is tearing out its guts. Criminal activity including rape is somehow being allowed in the military. It is turning a blind eye. Activities done by a very small number of bad apples are tarnishing the vast majority of people in the military who are doing an outstanding job.
Those things are hardly being touched upon. Yet petty rules and regulations are being enforced which are eliminating the esprit de corps that is necessary to be able to mould a fighting force that can be deployed around the world. The traditions of our military have been torn away. The ability to wear badges of merit are forbidden within our military.
How can we have a situation where promotions are basically flatlined and stalled, where people are in the same positions for 10 or more years? Salaries have been stalled and flattened out for a long time, and we understand that.
The government could have put forth constructive solutions that would not have cost any money. I presented them to then General Dallaire who was responsible for the military in that capacity two years ago when he appeared before the defence committee. We were promised that action would be taken on them and nothing has happened.
One constructive solution was the provision of a tax free accommodation assistance allowance for all military people. Local base commanders should have more power and more ability to manage their services. Public works should be taken out of the hands of base commanders so that they would be able to operate in a more constructive way.
It is important also to look at our equipment. It is true that the government has made some sensible purchases recently, but the military still labours with equipment that is hazardous, rickety and dangerous to the health of our service people. Military personnel move around the country. They move from a small base like the one in Cold Lake, Alberta, to the Esquimalt base in my riding, the Marine Pacific Command. They find their costs increase dramatically but there is no allowance for that.
When people enter the military they are willing to move around to various parts of the country. They know it is part of their job but they do not expect to be kicked in the teeth when they do it. The situation is so bad military service people are going to soup kitchens. They are moonlighting. Men with pregnant wives are forced to work abroad to make a bit of extra money to put food on the table back home. How can they serve our country and our international obligations properly when they are forced to do that?
We all understand the situation of the government with respect to the financial crunch we all labour under. However constructive solutions such as making a tax free accommodation allowance payable to everyone and reducing the rents of members quarters to what they were three years ago would be only fair.
PMQ rents were repeatedly jacked up and the salaries were frozen. That sends a very bad message to our military personnel. They are not looking to get rich. They know the situation they are in. They understand the situation of the government and the restrictions it is under. However they expect to be treated fairly.
That is not too much to ask for people who travel far away under extremely dangerous circumstances to wave the Canadian flag and do the bidding of our country to fulfil its obligations abroad and domestically.
We also have to consider the non-military people who work for the military, the civilian population. At the base depot in Esquimalt the people have done an admirable job of cutting. They have cut remarkably well, so much so that they have been used as a model for other bases around the country.
Many of those people have been working for the military at salaries less than what they would make if they had gone on welfare. Yet they have chosen to stay with the military and work for DND because of the pride they feel in supporting an institution that is an honourable part of the history of the country.
Those individuals have no assurance of what will happen in the future. They are not being communicated with at all on their future. They know the tender process that is taking place is occurring for efficiency reasons. All they ask is to be able to bid on the contracts fairly and on a level playing field. They are not being allowed to bid on jobs in which they have worked honourably for decades in some cases. That is no way to treat the people in our military. It is no way to treat the honourable people who work in the Department of National Defence.
We should listen to the solutions put forth by my colleague from Calgary East which would revamp our—