House of Commons Hansard #6 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was allies.

Topics

JusticePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Kevin Sorenson Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB

Mr. Speaker, Canadians want Parliament to know about the tragic story of Cassandra Kaake, who was 31 weeks pregnant when she was murdered in Windsor, Ontario, a year ago today. Tragically there will be no justice for Cassandra's pre-born baby girl, Molly, who was also killed in that violent attack. That is because, in criminal law, pre-born children are not recognized as separate victims in attacks against their mother.

This petition calls on Parliament to pass legislation to allow a separate charge to be laid in the death or injury of a pre-born child when that child's mother is a victim of a crime.

Canadians want justice for victims like Molly.

HousingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

NDP

Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby South, BC

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition to the government concerning social housing and co-operatives in Canada.

The petitioners, who live at the Pine Ridge Co-op, are concerned that funding has been cut for social housing in Canada. They call upon the government to immediately renew funding for long-term operating agreements for co-ops with social housing providers, in order to preserve rent subsidies for existing units and provide funds for much-needed renovations.

Impaired DrivingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Mark Warawa Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by congratulating you, sir, on your being acclaimed to the illustrious position of Speaker of the House.

I have two petitions to present today. The first, sadly, informs the House that 22-year-old Kassandra Kaulius was tragically killed by a drunk driver who chose to drive while impaired. Kassandra's family was devastated, as was Families for Justice, a group of Canadians who have also lost loved ones to impaired drivers.

The petitioners believe that Canada's impaired driving laws are much too lenient and they want the crime called what it is, vehicular homicide, and they want mandatory sentences for anyone convicted of that offence.

JusticePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Mark Warawa Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC

Mr. Speaker, a number of us have received petitions regarding Molly. Molly was about to be born, but both she and her mother were tragically killed one year ago today.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to pass legislation to allow a separate charge to be laid in the death or injury of a pre-born child.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Winnipeg North Manitoba

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

Is that agreed?

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Bloc

Louis Plamondon Bloc Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel, QC

Mr. Speaker, I simply want to clarify something.

The hon. Leader of the Government invited all hon. members to take part in committee meetings. However, the Bloc Québécois members are not allowed to take the floor. We can sit at the committee table, but we cannot speak. That is not right, but that is how things currently stand. That is why we are voting against the motion.

If we were invited to speak, even after all other members finished speaking, we might be in favour of this motion, even without the right to vote. The fact is that we cannot take the floor at any House committee. That is why we are refusing to give unanimous consent.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I thank the hon. member for that clarification.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:25 a.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

Since today is the final allotted day for the supply period ending December 10, 2015, the House will go through the usual procedures to consider and dispose of the supply bill. In view of recent practices, do hon. members agree that the bill be distributed now?

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:25 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:25 a.m.

Conservative

Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON

moved:

That, given that ISIS has taken responsibility for recent deadly attacks in Paris, Beirut, and Africa, and has declared war on Canada, this House: (a) acknowledge that now is not the time for Canada to step back and force our allies to take on a heavier burden in the fight against ISIS; (b) remind the government of its obligation to our NATO partners and its responsibility to protect the freedom, democracy, safety, and security of Canadians; (c) call upon the government to maintain the air-combat mission of the RCAF CF-18 fighter jets; (d) express its appreciation to the members of the Canadian Armed Forces for their participation in the fight against terror; and (e) reconfirm our commitment to our allies to stop ISIS.

Mr. Speaker, although it is not my first time standing in this new Parliament, I do want to congratulate you on your election as Speaker. I would like to congratulate all MPs for their respective elections. I would in particular like to thank the people of Parry Sound—Muskoka for returning me to office for the fourth consecutive time.

I am sure all colleagues would agree that it is a great honour to be here, under any circumstances. We look forward to this Parliament over the next few years.

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Selkirk—Interlake.

The basis of our motion today is a straightforward one. Canada must always stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies. We believe that the government needs to maintain our commitment to the air combat mission against ISIS and to leave our CF-18s in the fight. While our coalition partners are stepping up their efforts to degrade and defeat ISIS, the Liberal government is stepping back.

The Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Air Force have been carrying out both training and air strikes successfully in the region for almost a year. Our troops have been making a difference. Pulling them out of the fight now is not only contrary to the interests of Canada and our coalition partners, but it is an insult to our women and men in uniform; and to suggest that their role has been insignificant is perhaps the greatest insult.

Our troops have damaged ISIS and slowed its progress. That must continue.

The Conservatives have said that in order to stand shoulder to shoulder with its allies, Canada needs to maintain its commitment to the air combat mission against ISIS and leave its CF-18s in the fight. That is why the leader of the official opposition is urging the Liberal government to reverse its decision to withdraw the CF-18s. We fully support that change.

The Prime Minister still has not explained how withdrawing Canada's CF-18s from the fight against ISIS will help our coalition partners.

The brutality of ISIS has no bounds. It is an unadulterated evil scourge that must be confronted with full force and without hesitation. Unfortunately, recent history tells the horrific tale.

In San Bernardino, California, on December 2, 14 people were killed and 21 injured in a terror attack consisting of a mass shooting and an unsuccessful bombing at the Inland Regional Center by supporters of ISIS.

In Paris on November 13, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks claimed the lives of 130 innocent people.

On November 12 in Beirut, Lebanon, two suicide bombers killed at least 43 people. The attack in the south suburb of Beirut is one of Lebanon's deadliest in recent years. ISIS targeted civilians, worshippers, unarmed people, women, and the elderly. It only targeted innocent people.

On November 4 in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, at least four police officers were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle full of explosives next to a police club in northern Sinai.

In the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, after a Russian plane crashed in the mountainous part of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, a Sinai-based group affiliated with ISIS claimed responsibility for planting the bomb on the plane. There were 224 people killed.

In Aden, Yemen, on October 6, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on a luxury hotel hosting Yemeni officials and a gulf military base in Yemen's cosmopolitan port city of Aden, as well as a mosque bombing in the Yemen capital of Sanaa. At least 15 troops were killed, including four UAE soldiers.

In Sanaa, Yemen, on September 24, ISIS militants targeted Shiite Muslims who were praying during the religious holiday of Eid and killed 25 people at a mosque in Yemen's capital city of Sanaa.

Then there are the ISIS executions. The full scale of ISIS' year of terror has been detailed in a recent report that claims the jihadist group has executed more than 3,000 people in the past 12 months, a tally that includes 74 children.

According to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, produced to mark the first anniversary of the establishment of the group's so-called caliphate, ISIS has carried out 3,027 execution killings in a year. Among the thousands of Arab and Kurdish civilians executed by the group in Syria last year, 86 were women.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report in February, documenting the many horrors ISIS has imposed on children who are Kurdish, Yazidi, Christian, and Muslim. Children, even those who are mentally challenged, are being tortured, crucified, buried alive, used as suicide bombers, and sold as sex slaves, according to this report, and there is no reason to doubt its veracity.

The international community and our allies are at one. Here is what some of the leaders around the world, our coalition allies, have to say about the fight against ISIS.

David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, stated:

ISIL has brutally murdered British hostages. They have inspired the worst terrorist attack against British people since 7/7 on the beaches of Tunisia, and they have plotted atrocities on the streets here at home. Since November last year our security services have foiled no fewer than seven different plots against our people, so this threat is very real. The question is this: do we work with our allies to degrade and destroy this threat, and do we go after these terrorists in their heartlands, from where they are plotting to kill British people, or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us?

The President of the French Republic, François Hollande, has had quite a bit to say about this.

He has said that France would battle ISIS “without a respite, without a truce... It is not a question of containing but of destroying this organisation”.

President Obama stated, “ISIL is the face of evil. Our goal, as I’ve said many times, is to degrade and ultimately destroy this barbaric terrorist organization.”

It is evidently clear where our allies stand on this issue, but, sadly, Canada's position, once clearly defined under our previous Conservative government, is now hazy and hesitant. Canadians can be extremely proud of the efforts of the women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces in Operation Impact. Our special operations forces have been able to train over 1,100 peshmerga forces, allowing them to combat ISIS more effectively on the ground.

For nearly a year, the Royal Canadian Air Force has been working with our allies and successfully launching air strikes against ISIS' fighting positions, weapons caches, training facilities, IED facilities, critical infrastructure, and command centres.

I have to say this. Regrettably, we have no plan from the Liberals on what our mission against ISIS would look like. There was no mention of what our plan will be in the throne speech. Canadians support the fight against ISIS. They deserve to know why we are stepping back.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

Vancouver South B.C.

Liberal

Harjit S. Sajjan LiberalMinister of National Defence

Madam Speaker, the member opposite has listed off the number of atrocities to date, with which I wholeheartedly agree. He also talked about the previous government's record on the fight.

My question is, where was the previous government's leadership in identifying the threat when ISIL was a small organization? Where was its leadership when it could have taken out this threat, looking at the indicators, when it was smaller to prevent all of the victims on the list that he just identified?

Where was the previous government's leadership at the most important time of preventing this atrocity from happening in the first place?

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

Conservative

Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON

Madam Speaker, indeed, we act in concert with our allies. As the hon. member knows, the ISIS threat germinated in countries where we certainly did not have forces on the ground initially, Iraq and Syria. ISIS, of course, grew and metastasized in areas where there was a lack of central government activity and it was able to do so under the radar screen, unfortunately, for many months.

Once the threat was identified, Conservatives acted quickly as a government in concert with our allies to contain the threat. We understood that the threat is not only over there, and it is great over there, the threat is also here. The Conservative Party urges the government to act in concert with its allies and come up with a plan that will, indeed, make Canada proud again.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

NDP

Hélène Laverdière NDP Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC

Madam Speaker, we all know that ISIS managed to get a foothold in Syria and Iraq because of the governance issues in Iraq and the chaos in Syria. I think that experts all agree that we will not come up with a lasting solution until the civil war in Syria has been resolved.

I would like to know what my colleague proposes and what Canada could do to contribute to the peace process in Syria.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

Conservative

Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member because that point of view is very important.

We are not just talking about a military action plan. We are talking about a military action plan, a diplomatic action plan and a humanitarian action plan. We need all of those things to fight against ISIS.

It is like three legs of a stool. They cannot have one removed without affecting the others. That is why the Conservative plan is to have diplomatic, humanitarian, and military action.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

Conservative

Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON

Madam Speaker, I would like to comment on the comments from the Minister of National Defence, who questioned why the previous government did not anticipate this threat earlier. He well knows that even our allies, like the United States, did not anticipate this threat. Major General Michael Nagata, who is the special operations commander for the United States, even said in December 2014 that “We have not defeated the idea. We do not even understand the idea.” All of the allies in this coalition were caught off-guard.

I just want to make the point as well for my colleague from Parry Sound—Muskoka that last week it was reported in the media that the Royal Canadian Air Force flew four sorties, four raids, over five days. Presumably, the Royal Canadian Air Force has the support of the government in this mission. If it is good enough for the first week of December, why is it not good enough in the first week of January or the first week of February to conduct these missions against ISIS?

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

Conservative

Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON

Madam Speaker, the hon. member has made some very important points about the importance of the continuity of the mission. I would only further add my own comment on the words of the Minister of National Defence, which is that it is a bit curious for the hon. minister to criticize our position, which is to stand by our allies, by saying we should have stood earlier, when his government is not standing by our allies. There is a logical inconsistency there, which I hope the hon. minister can remedy at the earliest occasion.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Madam Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure to be able to rise today. I want to thank my colleague from Parry Sound—Muskoka, our critic for global affairs, for bringing forward this motion today. This is important.

I am disappointed that the government never brought forward this motion. When we were in power as government, we established the principled position that all military deployments and all changes in missions should be debated in this place.

It is important to engage every member of Parliament in making the decisions on how we use the Canadian Armed Forces in fighting terrorism, deploying our troops, going against oppressors, and making sure that we stop mass atrocities.

It is disappointing that changes are going to be made to this mission. We are still not sure why the Liberals made this promise in this first place during the last election campaign. We have still not heard from the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, or the Minister of National Defence on why it makes sense to withdraw our planes from the fight against ISIS.

Later today leaders from all parties, I believe, are going to Toronto to welcome the first planeload of Syrian refugees. All these refugees are fleeing ISIS. If we want to stop the humanitarian crisis, if we want to stop the genocide that ISIS is carrying out, we actually have to defeat ISIS itself. We do not do that by taking a back seat.

We have to remember that ISIS has declared war on Canada. As the member for Parry Sound—Muskoka was saying earlier, when we were talking about the atrocities, the terrorist acts, and the murders that were committed in San Bernadino, Paris, Beirut, and Egypt, let us not forget that ISIS inspired the attacks that took the lives of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Corporal Nathan Cirillo.

ISIS has declared war on Canada. It is paramount that the government defend and protect our nation and our citizens.

The United Nations gets this. The Security Council determined on November 20 that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or al-Sham or ISIL or ISIS or Daesh or whatever one wants to call them constituted an unprecedented threat to international peace and security, calling upon member states with the requisite capacity to take all necessary measures to prevent and suppress its terrorist acts on territory under its control in Syria and Iraq.

The council urged member states to intensify their efforts to stem the flow of foreign terrorist fighters into Iraq and Syria, and to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorism.

As our global affairs critic said, this is a three-legged stool. We have a humanitarian crisis and we have to deliver humanitarian aid in a major way, and refugees are a part of that. We have to stop the ability of ISIS to fund itself and finance its war and its terrorism. Ultimately it comes down to stopping ISIS in its tracks. The only way to do that is with military intervention.

Canada has a long, proud history of taking on those who commit mass atrocities. Let us think of Passchendaele and the Canadians cutting their way through on Vimy Ridge. We can talk about how they fought the Nazis and led the attack on D-Day on Juno Beach. We can talk about how they stood up against the genocide in Bosnia in the Medak Pocket. We can talk about how they took the fight to the Taliban in Afghanistan, in places like the Panjwayi.

We have always distinguished ourselves. We have tremendous Canadians, the best Canadians, who are members of the Canadian Armed Forces. In every discipline that they have, whether it is in the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, or the Royal Canadian Air Force, each and every member is always up to the fight and up to the task that Parliament sometimes has to put upon them.

We want to make sure that we are doing what is right, and in the absence of a motion from the government to define what its plan is, the Conservative Party brought forward our motion today so that Parliament has a chance to pronounce itself on the battle against ISIS.

More importantly, I was concerned that if we did not have this motion today that we would hear the change in the new plan withdrawing our CF-18s, maybe taking out the entire air task force, including bringing back our Polaris refuelling Airbus, our Aurora reconnaissance aircraft, and the 600 members of the Royal Canadian Air Force and others who are stationed right now as part of the air task force in Kuwait, bringing all of them home without doing anything to increase the military training for the Kurdish peshmerga, and that those decisions would be made and announced when Parliament was not sitting over the Christmas break, when Canadians would be busy doing other things and not paying attention to what is taking place on the international scene. So it becomes even more important that we have this debate today.

We have yet to hear one of our coalition partners say it is great that Canada is taking a step back. The only people who seem to be excited about withdrawing our CF-18s are the Liberals and ISIS, and that is downright embarrassing and dangerous. We have to continue to step up. The Canadian way is always to go in and punch above our weight, and I expect that of our government, especially in light of the recent attacks, especially in light of how the coalition partners have really coalesced around a more robust military intervention, bombing ISIS positions on a more frequent and upscaled basis. Canada should be doing the same. At a bare minimum, we should be leaving the CF-18s in the fight.

Yes, we can do more on training. If the government wants to come forward with a proposal on putting more planners, more special operations forces, in the field to work alongside the Kurdish peshmerga and Iraqi security forces, it would have our full support. We believe that ultimately it is boots on the ground that will win this fight. Those who are most at risk there are the ones who are going to have take up that fight.

If we look at the record we have been able to achieve under the special operation forces training with the Peshmerga, by far, it is the most successful in the region. Why is that? Not only are we giving them the tools and skills that are required in training, but we are also a part of the command structure. It is an aid, an assist, and it is training, and they are required to go to the front lines to observe how the Kurdish Peshmerga forces are performing. There is definitely more danger involved in that, but it has been, by far, more successful.

A Mr. Hillier, a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces who went and fought with the Kurdish peshmerga, came back and said that our training has been very successful. He also said that the CF-18 bombing strikes have been even more successful. When we heard from the Kurdistan regional government officials, they said that if it were up to them, they would ask Canada to keep the CF-18s in the fight because they have saved lives and have destroyed the enemy.

Now, we as Parliament, really do need to look at how we can best contribute. That is what we keep hearing from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. They think the only way we can contribute this is through the training mission, but this has to be a whole of government approach and it has to involve all aspects of our military assets. We have already expenditured for the establishment of the air task force. We have already set up camp, we have already deployed troops, and we already have equipment and materiel in theatre. It is more important now that we leave those assets there and maximize their use in the fight.

As my friend from Wellington—Halton Hills pointed out earlier, if it is okay in the first week of December to continue to send our CF-18s out, flying their sorties, collecting intelligence, and making the ultimate decision on whether or not they drop bombs on ISIS targets, why will it not be good enough next week, in January, or all of next year?

We should stay involved until we actually defeat ISIS. That is what we are hearing from world leaders. That is what we are hearing from the United Nations.

It is important that Canada stays engaged if we want to be a serious player on a global scale. Our allies expect us to do our share. Stepping back, away from—

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:50 a.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

Order, please. Your time is up. I was so involved in your discussion that I forgot to tell you that your time was up.

I am sure that the member will have time to continue his speech in the questions and comments.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:50 a.m.

Liberal

Andrew Leslie Liberal Orléans, ON

Madam Speaker, I wonder if the hon. member, who made reference to the previous government's efforts in Afghanistan, can explain to us why the previous government chose not to deploy CF-18s to Afghanistan and instead focused the overwhelming majority of its efforts on training indigenous forces. He has already referred to it as producing extraordinary value.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:50 a.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Madam Speaker, as we all know, the member for Orléans is a decorated general from the Canadian Army and had a very distinguished career. Is he suggesting that maybe we do not do the air combat mission but we deploy troops to fight? I do not think that that is where the Liberal Party is. Definitely, when we were in government, we decided that training was the best option to aid and assist command and control. That was, by far, the most effective and it was the approach that we took then.

Maybe we have to change thoughts. Maybe he is prepared to bring forward those ideas to his leaders in the Liberal Party and suggest to the Prime Minister that we need to have a more robust combat mission for the Canadian Armed Forces through the special operations forces. If that is what he is suggesting, I am sure that the Minister of National Defence will be more than happy to take on that advice.

However, what we are talking about here is having a more robust training mission. What we want to see from the federal government is a commitment to keep the CF-18s in the fight to do our share and ensure that we defeat ISIS.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:50 a.m.

NDP

Hélène Laverdière NDP Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC

Madam Speaker, I was struck by the comment my colleague made in his speech about about how all the refugees that we are going to take in are people who are fleeing ISIS.

Is my colleague aware that many, if not most, of those refugees are fleeing Bashar al-Assad's regime, not ISIS?

Is he also aware that many coalition members are not participating in the bombings?

Finally, why is he so convinced that bombing is going to solve the problem, when there are so many examples of conflicts in that region where such action did not lead to a peaceful solution?

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:55 a.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Madam Speaker, there is no question that Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian regime are themselves the genocidal organization. They are the ones who have used chemical weapons against their own civilian population. There is no doubt that there are a number of other members in the region, like the Free Syrian Army, that are creating the instability there.

If we are ultimately going to stabilize the area, there is one side of this that is a political debate and one side that requires a diplomatic solution. We know that in dealing with ISIS, we are dealing with a genocidal, jihadist, terrorist death cult that will stop at nothing. To sit down and talk with them is not an option. The only thing ISIS understands is the sword.

Opposition Motion—Combat Mission Against ISISBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

10:55 a.m.

Conservative

Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC

Madam Speaker, a constituent actually raised the concern with me. In the throne speech the Liberal government indicated that it looks to downsize our military. The constituent said that he was concerned that one of the reasons the Liberals want to withdraw our men and women from this active mission bombing ISIS is that right now that is front and centre with the public. By pulling them back it will allow them to make larger cuts.

Is this member also concerned about that?