Debates of March 26th, 2003

Iraq

[Stockwell Day, Canadian Alliance, Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC]

Mr. Speaker, hon. minister did not answer the question. The defence minister did tell the House that Canadian troops are there to fight terrorism. They are near Iraq to do that, yet they are not fighting Saddam's black-hooded Fedayeen militia. These are the people who pretend to surrender and then kill soldiers who are trying to show them mercy. They also are killing innocent Iraqis who are opposing Saddam Hussein.

I will ask the Prime Minister again, our anti-terrorism troops are there to fight terrorism. Does he agree this is terrorism and why are we not fighting it?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, as we have said repeatedly, the government as of September 11 has been fully committed to the war against terrorism. We went to Afghanistan, and our ships are still there fighting terrorists. We are going back to Afghanistan with the ISAF mission to maintain security in that beleaguered country.

In many countries in the world criminals are doing terrorist things. We cannot be everywhere, but Canada is doing more than our share in the war against terrorism.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House, the Prime Minister described the Canadian soldiers lent to American and British units as “fulfilling their duties as military personnel”. Clearly, the Prime Minister was confirming that there are some Canadian soldiers engaged in the war against Iraq.

Will the Prime Minister at last admit that Canadian military personnel are taking part in the war against Iraq without the go-ahead of the United Nations, contrary to the official position of the government?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I think I have made the government's position on this clear. These are soldiers taking part in an exchange with American, British and Australian troops, and their duties are performed within that framework. According to the information available to us, they are not part of the attack forces involved in the war.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what I said, the soldiers are on loan in an exchange arrangement with other troops, the British and Australians. They are at war. They are involved in logistics, like the U.S. soldiers who were recently captured. They are at war. We are not at war if we are not over there, but if we are there, then it is fairly obvious that we are taking part in a war, a war that the Prime Minister has termed unjustified.

How can we have soldiers taking part in a war when we are saying we are not at war. I am trying to understand, but it is pretty difficult.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has just indicated very clearly what I had already indicated very clearly yesterday in answering this question.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence says that security reasons prevent him from telling us which foreign units Canadians soldiers taking part in the war against Iraq are placed in. The minister's statement does not make sense. One has to wonder how knowing where Canadian soldiers are located would change anything in this war.

The minister has no valid reason to hide from us where these soldiers have been assigned. Where are they?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I already indicated that the government knows exactly which units these persons have been assigned to. However, for security reasons, as I have said many times, we do not want to announce where our soldiers are every single day of the week.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister and the Prime Minister are refusing to tell us where these soldiers are because they want to keep it from journalists. They want to hide what they are doing and their level of involvement. They also want to keep it from the public.

They are preventing journalists from doing their job. Given that the government said that Canada was not taking part in the war, having reporters following soldiers into battle and in combat units over there would make the government very vulnerable. It would embarrass the government, which has said that it was not going to war.

Today we have proof that soldiers are in Iraq and that the government wants to prevent journalists from finding out about it.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the government has nothing to hide, except things that are important for the security of the men and women of the Canadian Forces.

I think everyone would agree that we would never want to jeopardize the lives of our soldiers. That is the position of the government.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. It is time for clarity on why Paul Cellucci says that Canada is doing more for Bush's war than most coalition members. We know Canadian ships are escorting ships of war. Now we learn that Canadians are serving with tank brigades and helping to direct the bombings on AWACS. So much for not being involved in combat.

The government has already flip-flopped on regime change. Has it also now flip-flopped on Canadians in combat?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have a very clear position, and of course we have ships in the ocean there, doing their job in relation to the war against terrorism in Afghanistan. We have been there for a year and we will continue to do the duty that we have accepted, which is part of the war against terrorism. That is exactly what they are doing.

The people who are involved in flying in AWACS planes are covering many countries in their surveillance, not only one country. They are doing the job today that they have been doing for many months.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, complicity in Bush's war is contempt of Parliament and complicity in Bush's peace is contempt of public opinion.

Today we learned that Dick Cheney's former company has landed a $500 million contract to rebuild Iraq. Does the Prime Minister think that Iraq should be rebuilt by Bush's cronies or through the United Nations? If through the United Nations, what will Canada do to ensure that happens?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I explained yesterday in the House, our ambassador is working to ensure that aid and reconstruction will be done in a multilateral way. By the way, today the minister for international development will announce that the Government of Canada is making $100 million at the disposition of the United Nations to help with the humanitarian aid that is needed there.

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the ambassador of the United States criticized the Canadian government for abandoning the United States in its time of need. Our relationship with our closest ally, a $1 billion a day trading partner, is being allowed to disintegrate in a flurry of Liberal insults.

How did the government respond to Mr. Cellucci? Yesterday a senator was quoted in the other place as saying “Screw the Americans”. Add this to the list of long Liberal insults.

Has the Prime Minister suspended this member from caucus? Has he denounced or reprimanded him, or will the Prime Minister once again just let it slide?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote to the possible leader of the fifth party, and with their attitude they will remain in the corner for a long time, because this was what the chair of the Conservative caucus had to say about the flip-flop of the leader of the fifth party:

Well you know I felt very comfortable taking that position because we had taken the position back a number of weeks ago that we would not support Canada's involvement in this war without a UN Resolution approving it. And somewhere along the line, that decision became derailed and changed.

This is the position of the fifth party. It has absolutely no credibility.

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the real question is, when will the Prime Minister show some leadership instead of crass political posturing and poll chasing?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. The hon. member for Pictou--Antigonish--Guysborough I am sure is putting his question. His preamble of course will be brief but I would urge hon. members to listen to the hon. member's question.

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, this is a pattern from the Liberal government: senators, members of Parliament, cabinet ministers, press secretaries and ambassadors. The Prime Minister says that the parade of insults will stop. When?

Does the Prime Minister not understand how injurious these remarks are to our relationship with our biggest and most important trading partner? Can the Prime Minister not control his caucus, or has he chosen not to?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that the hon. member was not in the House when I gave an answer to that question yesterday. The way he is acting today, in a few months from now we will regret the departure of the member for Calgary Centre.

Canada-U.S. Relations

[Jason Kenney, Canadian Alliance, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister finally has a legacy. He is the first prime minister in Canadian history to abandon our British and American allies at a time of need, and he has brought Canada-U.S. relations to their lowest level in modern times.

The C.D. Howe Institute, our former ambassador to the United States, and a poll of major business leaders all say that Liberal anti-Americanism is hurting our economic interests.

Why is the Prime Minister prepared to sacrifice Canadian jobs in order to placate the wacko wing of his own party?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when we listen to the opposition members, they seem to have a desire that there be bad relations between us and the United States. They desire that.

Yesterday the ambassador said that the relations between Canada and the United States were so important for both of us that we had to keep the relations we have had, even if we have a disagreement. It is not the first time, but this country, in a situation like that, has the right to make the decision we made, like they have the right to make the decision they made. Among friends, sometimes we can disagree.

[Jason Kenney, Canadian Alliance, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, anti-American bigotry is not an honest disagreement. On the very day the U.S. ambassador finally spoke out about Liberal attacks on his country, a senior cabinet minister told a reporter, reported in today's paper, that the Americans “frankly don't care about anyone else” and he sneered that the U.S. president was “an ideologue”, while Hansard recorded that Liberal Senator LaPierre shouted “Screw the Americans” in the Senate yesterday.

Are these continued anti-American slurs happening because the Prime Minister actually agrees with them or because his caucus members--

[The Speaker]

The right hon. Prime Minister.