Deborah Grey

[Employment, October 28th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says that Liberals will have to fight arrogance, overspending, overconfidence and complacency.

It is a losing battle. The unemployment rate is hovering around 10 per cent and yet the Liberals claim that they have kept their promise of jobs, jobs, jobs. Just in case we had any doubts, the Liberals now have sent out 1.4 million flyers entitled "Integrity in

Action" in an attempt to gloss over their dismal record on jobs. This is arrogance in action, certainly not integrity.

My question is for the Prime Minister. However, I am not sure who to ask over there today. Wasn't that a party? How can the Prime Minister even imagine that he has kept his promise on jobs, jobs, jobs?

[Government Policies, October 24th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, there certainly is wisdom in getting a platform out ahead. That is exactly what we did last week.

Jobs, jobs, jobs. Some promise. There are 1.4 million Canadians unemployed. One in four Canadians are worried about the jobs they have.

Protecting medicare? A $7 billion Liberal cut to social programs, with $3 billion of that coming directly out of health care, and the Liberals know that.

Stable funding for the CBC? The Liberals cut its budget by a third.

The list of broken promises goes on and on: free votes, an independent ethics counsellor-remember that one?-day care centres and spaces. "We will restore Canadians' faith in themselves and their government" was a promise in the red book. I can hardly believe it.

Why did the government not provide Canadians with a reality check, that is, that 62 promises have been kept and 136 promises are unfulfilled, instead of this list of imaginary red book achievements?

[Government Policies, October 24th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, that kind of an answer is exactly the proof that Canadians sitting in the gallery here and right across the country need a fresh start.

The imaginary friends in the Prime Minister's life believe that the Liberals may have kept their promises but real Canadians will not buy it. They remember the Liberal broken promise of jobs, jobs, jobs; renegotiating NAFTA; stable multiyear funding for the CBC; protecting universal day care and medicare; and their promise of course to kill, scrap and abolish the GST. Those are only five of the biggest whoppers in the red book. There are 131 more.

Why has the Prime Minister resorted to this piece of creative opportunism the Liberals have just released today instead of just telling Canadians the truth, the plain simple truth, that the Liberal Party of Canada, this government, is truly the home of the whopper?

[Government Policies, October 24th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I see that the Prime Minister has unveiled yet another piece of Canadian fiction, a record of achievements. I am sure that Margaret Atwood is just shaking in her pants, as the Prime Minister would say.

We have taken a look at the red book and at the Liberal record. The reality is that the Prime Minister has broken more promises than he has kept. Seventy per cent of the red book promises have gone unfulfilled. The Liberals have broken 136 commitments they made to Canadians in the last election campaign.

I ask the Deputy Prime Minister, how can she imagine that the Liberals have kept 80 to 90 per cent of their promises when fully 70 per cent of the red book promises have gone totally unfulfilled?

[Somalia, September 30th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, it is the toleration of this kind of behaviour. We have had somebody admit on the news nationally here already that he ordered that this person take him out, drop the guy and shoot him. I hardly think that is something the minister needs to look into a great deal more.

Jean Boyle said: "We were aware that the Americans were working with Canadians jointly in terms of intelligence and support in Somali" and added to nobody's surprise that he had no knowledge of any behaviour outlined by a former Green Beret.

This is a pattern we are seeing develop with this minister, blaming things off on cuts and blaming it off to a subordinate. Also with Jean Boyle, again and again say "hey, I had absolutely no knowledge about it". Why did Jean Boyle have absolutely no knowledge about it? Just what does he have any knowledge about?

[Somalia, September 30th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe it. Talk about joint exercises. What about joint uniforms? Certainly these people have their own uniforms to wear. We do not do a complete swap on that, heaven help us.

Canadian forces have not been under foreign command since World War I. The terms of the 1992 memorandum of understanding of orders, signed by former Chief of Defence Staff John de Chastelain, clearly state that the complete operational control of the Canadian forces will be under Canadian command. Yet these direct orders were disobeyed regardless of how he tries to explain it away by talking about joint exercises.

What has the minister of defence done to ensure such an incident will not recur? He cannot just stand behind the fact that this was in 1993 long before he was elected. What is he going to do about this and how will he enable the Somalia commission to look into this and investigate it?

[Somalia, September 30th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, today's Globe and Mail reports that members of U.S. special forces teams wore Canadian uniforms in covert operations in Somalia, and one of them ordered a Canadian soldier to ``fire at a guy, shoot him, drop him, take the guy out''.

Is this report true and if so, when did the minister become aware of this covert operation?

[The Canadian Armed Forces, September 23rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the only people who are flinging mud right now are those people who have served in the armed forces and know full well what is going on there and what the morale has stooped to.

Jean Boyle can no longer lead the Canadian Armed Forces. It is as simple as that and I do not know why he cannot get it through his head. By blaming his subordinates, Boyle has lost the confidence of his troops. The Prime Minister and the defence minister are no better. These big boys prefer to puff out their chests in some macho defence of General Boyle instead of simply admitting they were wrong.

I ask the minister one more time, will he just forget about his political pride, his political record of not firing people? Will he just put aside this political huffing and puffing once and for all, admit he was wrong and fire Jean Boyle?

[The Canadian Armed Forces, September 23rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, yes, my colleague did say that the very least Jean Boyle could do out of a sense of honour would be to step aside and if he is proven innocent, then that is fine and he can return to his job. There is certainly no shame in saying that.

Lewis Mackenzie hit the nail right on the head this weekend again when he spoke out. I always listen to guys named Lew; believe me, I know it is safe. He said that the Prime Minister and the defence minister were putting stubborn political pride before their duty to the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Rank and file soldiers feel tainted by the Somalia scandal because the Liberal government has failed to do the right thing, the honourable thing, and ask Jean Boyle to resign.

I ask the minister, or perhaps the Deputy Prime Minister: Why are they sacrificing their duty to the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces to protect their pitiful political pride?

[The Canadian Armed Forces, September 23rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about what a great job the military troops are doing. I say that is absolutely true, but it is in spite of his leadership, not because of it.

The minister also just said that he would like to hear from serving officers. The truth is that these people are afraid to talk. Only when there is safety in retirement do people like Major-Generals Brian Vernon and Lewis MacKenzie say things like: "Jean Boyle has lost the trust of his troops and should resign. He is not credible to those who are serving this country. Soldiers are embarrassed to wear their uniforms in public". What a sad day it is when we see soldiers and troops who are absolutely ashamed to drive around in their vehicles in their uniforms.

My question to the defence minister is this, and I will give him a hint that this is no riddle: Just how many major-generals does it take to get the defence minister to do the honourable thing and fire Jean Boyle?