Mr. Speaker, aircraft and ships are fine if aircraft can fly, but the fact of the matter is ours cannot and the government does not seem to get it.
Our air transport fleet is so frail that it took us three tries to reach East Timor with just one plane. It is no secret that the commander of the Canadian task force in Kosovo, colonel Michael Ward, called our airlift portion “near catastrophe”.
The fact is the government has not got it yet. The failure to replace Canada's military aging transport aircraft is embarrassing. It is embarrassing to Canadian troops. It is embarrassing to Canada's reputation around the world. It has shown Canada as the weak sister in the coalition against terrorism.