Debates of May 3rd, 2017

Child Care

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite articulates a good vision. The intentions of the government are good, but as with so many things, we are not seeing the action associated with them.

Increasing the child benefit does not help parents unless more child care spaces are created in which to spend that money. This is our big disappointment. No action has been taken to tackle the out-of-control child care costs. No action has been taken to create new child care spaces. The budgets of this year and last year had zero money allocated to create new child care spaces.

The 2017 budget of last month also fell far short of the international standard of 1% of GDP spent on child care. Oxfam Canada and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives are just two of the groups that called the alarm on this.

As Morna Ballantyne from the Child Care—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I recognize that this is an important issue for the member opposite, as it is for me. I have two young children and I know how much families need these new services.

Our Canada child benefit will help lift more than 300,000 children out of poverty by 2017, which represents a 40% reduction in child poverty in Canada. Nine out of ten families will receive more benefits than they did under the former system.

We are working to develop an early learning and child care framework that I am sure will fully address my colleague's concerns.

Again I thank her for her work on this file, and I can assure her that the Government of Canada is taking this important subject very seriously for all Canadians.

Foreign Affairs

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure to be here at this time of night to talk about a question that I originally raised on December 12, 2016.

Surprisingly, here it is five months later, and we still do not have any answers to a question about peacekeeping. The questions were these: Where will our troops be stationed? What are their objectives? What are the rules of engagement? Will the UN be in command of our Canadian troops? What is the exit strategy?

Finally, I asked if the Liberals would be transparent and provide us with the facts, or was this just another political move to get a seat at the UN Security Council? Ultimately, I asked on numerous occasions if we will we have an opportunity for a full debate and a vote before we deploy our troops.

We know for a fact that the Minister of National Defence got ahead of himself back, at all times, on Remembrance Day last year when he suggested that we were going to deploy up to 600 members of the Canadian Armed Forces as peacekeepers to be in North Africa. More than likely, I keep hearing Mali. We know this situation is incredibly dangerous. To be committed to an area like that for three years is something that is troubling to Canadians and indeed to the members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

What we are seeing again is that there is no plan. We had the minister get ahead of himself on Remembrance Day when he announced we were going to be peacekeeping instead of honouring those who have fallen in service to this country. Ultimately, a day later, his press secretary had to backtrack and say the minister got a little ahead of where we are as a government.

No doubt he was ahead of himself in November 11. That is why I raised the question a month later, on December 12, and here we are on May 3, with still no answers and no direction. Ultimately, we see that the government has gone mute on whether or not we are going to send any of our forces over to Africa as part of a UN peacekeeping mission.

Hopefully, they have had a chance for sober second thought and have looked at the risk factors that are out there. We have already seen over 100 peacekeepers killed in Mali. This is a very unstable country with many different factions, as well as terrorism running rampant across the countryside. Other opportunities for peacekeeping are even more risky throughout the region.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs knows this file better than anyone. He understands the danger that we are facing when we deploy our troops into those types of peacekeeping missions. I urge him, as well as the government, to make sure that, first, we do not use our troops as pawns for political games to try to win seats at the UN Security Council, and second, that we do not place our troops under the command of a UN bureaucracy that was so ineffective in Somalia and Rwanda. What we are seeing now is that peacekeepers who are currently deployed in Africa from other countries are tied up in accusations of sexual assault, torture, and other things that would be considered war crimes in most situations. The UN is completely paralyzed on how to deal with it.

Finally, let us not get caught up in the Prime Minister's nostalgic view of trying to paint a romantic situation of what peacekeeping means. We know that peacekeeping no longer exists and that this has to be peacemaking. We have to go in under proper rules of engagement and under a Canadian commander.

[Andrew Leslie, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada-U.S. Relations)]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to speak today about this important topic.

The government is committed to revitalizing Canadian diplomacy and leadership on key international issues and in multinational institutions. This includes increasing Canada's support to the United Nations peace operations and its mediation, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding efforts, much in the tradition of what we have done over the last 20 to 30 years.

We have advanced our preparations to deliver on this commitment, and Canada's efforts will focus in four main areas: providing personnel and training for UN operations; strengthening Canadian support for conflict prevention, mediation, and peacebuilding; advancing the roles of women and youth in peace and security; and making UN peace operations more effective.

Canada's engagement will build upon our character as a modern, bilingual, and federal nation that is diverse, empowers women, and respects human rights—something we are all extraordinarily proud of—while tapping the skill of our high-quality personnel who, as my hon. colleague and I both know, are the very best in the world at what they do.

We will adopt a comprehensive and integrated approach. Today's conflicts come in many guises and call for political and humanitarian intervention as well as action on security and development fronts.

We will ensure that our foreign policy, international aid, military action, and security instruments are used to strengthen each other's capacity.

This is good timing for Canada's revitalized engagement in United Nations peace operations. Threats to international peace have become more complex, and in our increasingly interconnected world, the consequences are that much greater for us all.

Increasing Canada's support for UN-led interventions is an effective means by which we can reach out and help those who need it most.

Contributing to peace operations helps promote the values Canadians hold so dear. We live in an interconnected world. What happens over there can and will have an impact at home. Peacekeeping missions advance human rights, promote democracy and the rule of law, as I and many thousands of others have seen first-hand. They seek to build and sustain peace and to protect individuals against violence, affirm human dignity, secure liberty, and create an environment conducive to long-term development. Participation in peace operations extends our influence in multilateral institutions and with our allies.

As part of Canada's leadership, the Minister of National Defence has committed up to 600 Canadian Armed Forces personnel and related capabilities to be made available to the UN for peace missions, a standing force, so to speak. Canada will also provide scaled-up contributions of police and civilian personnel and support new training initiatives. These contributions will be complemented as appropriate by targeted stabilization, security and developmental programming, a whole of government approach building on the lessons we have learned in the former Yugoslavia and Africa and times before, and of course Afghanistan.

Any decision to deploy the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces is not taken lightly. Strict assessment criteria will be applied and a rigorous analysis will be conducted. We will make sure that we network with our friends and allies around the world to ensure we understand the constraints and the environment to which we are about to deploy.

The choice of where and how to engage is one that deserves careful reflection, one that will be made by cabinet in due course. As a matter of fact, a variety of studies are under way. We must ensure that we do it for the right reasons such that we have a meaningful impact on international peace and stability.

We will also seize the opportunity to ensure that women are empowered to make important decisions, to be a part of this force, and will do all due diligence in attacking gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation and abuse by local or indigenous or other UN personnel.

The United Nations needs our help.

It is my honour and pleasure to try and answer my distinguished colleague's questions.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to my colleague's comments. The parliamentary secretary laid out some interesting information that we have not heard here for a while. Although those objectives may be laudable, and we have full faith that the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces can do any task that they are put up to, including peacekeeping in Mali, we would prefer as the opposition and I think Canadians would prefer to see our troops deployed to fight terrorism in a coalition that is not under UN command.

The crux of the problem is that we have an organization that has proven itself many times over to be ineffective in long-term peace and stability in regions around the world. Bosnia is a case in point and Kosova is another where the UN failed and NATO succeeded.

We need to make sure that when we move our troops, it is in Canada's national interests, that it brings the peace and security that the government wants to see, that all Canadians want to see, but we do it with minimizing the risk to our troops. That is what I am asking for today.

[Andrew Leslie, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have had the honour and pleasure to deploy in a variety of UN missions and to study more. I understand my hon. colleague's concerns. As he knows, the right of national command is always retained by the chief of the defence staff. Although we may deploy forces to UN commands, national command authority is never abrogated. The chief of the defence staff, himself an experienced and capable soldier surrounded by the wonderful staff that monitors operations, is responsible for the oversight. He has the right of veto in any orders that may be issued by UN commanders.

As well, in theatre there will be a national Canadian commander, an experienced capable officer depending on where we go, who will decide the actual service, be it army, navy, air force, or special. That individual is entrusted by the chief of the defence staff to relay back to him information of which he may have concerns. I am absolutely confident in the outcome of the command and control architecture.

I hope that addresses my colleague's questions.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill not being present to raise the matter for which notice has been given, the notice is deemed withdrawn.

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 8:19 p.m.)