Madam Speaker, I will be dividing my time in the debate with the member for Timmins—James Bay.
I am happy to rise in the House this afternoon to speak against both the motion and the amendment to that motion.
I was encouraged to hear the speeches earlier this afternoon given by my NDP colleagues that I think really put the proper frame on this debate. Instead of how should we be throwing our military might into the Middle East, or should we bomb or should we not bomb, the question should really be, how can Canada be a truly positive force in the Middle East and the world?
I have heard many comments on this issue from many people in my riding, both recently and throughout the long election campaign. I would have to agree with the member for Elmwood—Transcona, who pointed out in his speech the clear change in the Liberal stance in this conflict.
When I travelled throughout my riding during the campaign, I went to 20 or so all-candidates forums. The Liberal candidate and I ended up at all those forums. Unfortunately, we did not really hear much from the Conservative side. I have to say that I continually heard from the Liberal candidate that Canada should be playing a more positive role in the Middle East, we should be pulling out the bombers and increasing humanitarian aid. The audiences in all 20 locations all agreed with us. Many constituents commented then that this is not our war. I still hear those comments from my constituents. I have had a couple of messages just in the last week alone from constituents about this, and they were not even aware of this debate going on. They just wanted me to hear that message.
I would like to also re-emphasize the comments made earlier by the member for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski that we seem to be so anxious to put our men and women of the armed forces in harm's way, and yet we continue to ignore the challenges they face when we bring them home. I have talked to many veterans in my riding who despair at the cuts to the services here in Canada. Some have even moved to the quieter parts of my riding since it is the only relief they can get from their PTSD.
Here we are again, putting more of our servicemen and women, tripling the number, into harm's way without a real clear plan of what they are there to do and when we will bring them home.
Let us look at the Liberal plan. The Liberals want to expand and enlarge our military role in Iraq with our personnel placed deeper and deeper into the combat. There is no apparent end date to the mission and no clear measures of success.
I remember commenting in the previous debate in the House that we had on an opposition day motion on this issue that I was reminded of George W. Bush's “mission accomplished” celebration regarding Iraq. In reality, he was celebrating the birth of ISIS and the destruction of any semblance of a stable Middle East.
The Liberal plan blurs the lines between training and combat roles. While they have recalled the bombers, we will still be refuelling bombers and we will be painting targets for them. The irony of this is simply painful, and I must say I am confused at the lack of clarity in this policy.
The human cost is difficult to assess. We are told that this mission will cost $264 million. It is interesting that the figure is so precise, considering, as I mentioned before, that the mission has no end date. Both my colleagues from Manitoba have already outlined the clear choices evident in these costs. There are so many positive ways we could be spending those funds here in Canada.
Canada does have constructive roles to play in fighting ISIS. We should be stopping the arms trade in the region, instead of increasing it. We should, first, sign the Arms Trade Treaty. It is absolutely unacceptable that Canada has not done this. We should be cutting off the funding sources for ISIS.
We constantly forget the other Canadian fighters in this region, in this conflict. Those are the Canadian fighters who have gone to the Middle East to fight for ISIS. There is nothing in the Liberal plan to increase and expand any deradicalization program here in Canada. This is something that we desperately need. There are models around the world that we can follow. We really need to tackle this end of things, because when we talk about the Canadian role in this conflict, we must remember that we can have a more positive effect by battling deradicalization as well.
We should continue our efforts to resettle refugees from this conflict in our country. I was disappointed to hear reference to refugees being confused with ISIS fighters and terrorists. This is just simply not the case. There is no evidence of the refugees coming to Canada being involved with this at all.
One of the most positive experiences for me as a new member of Parliament is the work I have been doing with refugee committees across my riding. There are committees in Penticton. We already have families that have come into Oliver and Osoyoos. There are committees working in Castlegar and New Denver, in the Nakusp. There is one in Naramata that wants to bring government-assisted refugees into a church conference centre for temporary housing.
These people have been working hard. There are hundreds of people in my riding doing this. There are thousands of people across Canada who are doing this. This is something that Canadians feel great pride in doing, sharing our great country with these people who have suffered so much.
Military involvement in this region is fraught with complexities and danger. It is perhaps not surprising that the United Nations and NATO have not sanctioned these actions. It is time that Canada played a positive role in the Middle East, concentrating on humanitarian aid and diplomacy. Many of our allies, including New Zealand, Norway, and South Korea have all taken this approach. It is something that we should really follow their lead on.
The Conservative debate stresses the effect of the bombing missions. Today I have heard many numbers thrown out there, the number of missions, the number of targets that have been hit, the number of ISIS targets hit. However, too often these bombing missions strike unintended civilian targets. We have all heard stories of bombs that have struck hospitals. It seems that we hear about this on a very regular basis. This is not only tragic in itself, but also serves as a recruiting tool for ISIS.
This is what will ultimately win this conflict. We must win the hearts and minds of the people who are suffering in the conflict. We must convince them that ISIS is not the answer to their problems. Bombing missions, no matter how well intentioned, just will not do that.
To conclude, I would like to reiterate that I think both this motion and the amendment offer a misguided path forward for Canada, and a misguided path for the brave members of our armed forces and for the Middle East as a whole.