Dawn Black

[Business of Supply, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, are the U.S. pilots who are providing air cover for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan operating under rules of engagement that meet or exceed the standards required by Canadian pilots under the first additional protocol to the 1949 Geneva Convention?

[Business of Supply, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, when does the government expect to make a decision as to whether it will be extending this mission past 2009? I know that many of us in the House were not happy with the process that was followed last spring for obtaining Parliament's approval. Obviously more consultation would be important in the future.

I want to ask the minister if he will commit tonight to a full review by Parliament before another extension. I know that the planning takes place six to nine months before an extension is planned. I would like to ask him if that consultation would take place well in advance of any extension of the mission.

[Business of Supply, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I know the minister is sincere in what he is saying. I would only urge that the department get on with it. I am sure that it cannot be so difficult to call it something different and ensure they get the money they were meant to get while they were serving in Afghanistan, once they are injured and home.

I would like to ask the minister a further question about support for wounded soldiers who come back to Canada. I know that he wants to provide as much support as possible for those who are wounded. We know that they go through trying circumstances, and I am sure that everyone here in the House wants to provide as much help as possible. Once a soldier who has been wounded is sent out of Kandahar, is the first stop always Germany? What sort of help does the department provide for the family if a soldier is in the hospital in Germany?

[Business of Supply, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I thank the minister for his answers.

I have raised the issue of danger pay at the committee level and in the House. That is the pay meant for the military when they are in Afghanistan. The issue is that if they are injured and sent home, they lose that danger pay. When we spoke about this before, I thought we could just call it something else and soldiers would continue to get it. It seems absolutely bizarre that a person is injured in combat in Afghanistan, comes back to recuperate in Canada and loses that amount of money that is danger pay. We should ensure that injured soldiers are not penalized when they return to Canada.

I know the minister has a commitment to change this. He told me last week that he wanted it corrected within a few weeks. I would like to ask what progress has been made on that issue since we raised it at the defence committee.

[Business of Supply, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I think that indicates we do have the shells. The information was tabled in the House of Commons and I do have the documents here. We spent $5.5 million to get them.

During the last round of questions, the minister gave us the incremental costs of the mission to 2009, but I would like to know what the full cost is to DND. It is something that his department does track. It is published in the report on plans and priorities. I wonder if he could give us that information now. I have a sense that the minister or the department are lowballing the figures and using rather selective accounting. How much exactly are we spending?

[Business of Supply, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I think that would be the first time people have said that UN peacekeeping missions are not challenging. I think they have their own challenges that are quite difficult.

In my previous round of questions, I asked about the Excalibur. The minister said that the Canadian Forces have none, but I have here a document that was tabled in the House. I have given it to the minister. It indicates that the Government of Canada spent $5.5 million on these munitions.

Perhaps I could explain to the minister why I am being so persistent on this point. As I said earlier, I have had questions on the order paper. I have questioned the minister in committee. He indicated to me that he would give me the figures.

As the Chief of Defence Staff indicated at a defence committee meeting recently, the Excalibur is a very expensive round. I had assumed that when we bought these rounds, we would have bought the first run, the experimental run of the shells. Back when the first line was proposed in 2002, two Democrats on the U.S. house appropriations committee estimated that it would cost about $222,000 per round. That is a quarter of a million Canadian dollars, so the minister can see why I am being persistent on this point. The rounds could cost less, but the information has not been forthcoming from the minister.

When the Senlis Council came to Ottawa and appeared at our defence committee, its members showed us slides of children living in Kandahar city who were starving and of whole families without food, so now I am asking the minister, is he saying that we do not have these shells, or is he not about to reveal the cost of the shells? Did the government table this information in the House of Commons in error? Is the minister not informed by his own department? What is the cost of each of these shells, please?

[Business of Supply, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I would like to take a few minutes to outline where Canada stands in terms of peacekeeping. Many Canadians, I suspect, would believe that we are still prominent players in peacekeeping, but this is far from the case.

Having previously ranked among the top 10, Canada now ranks 50th among the 95 countries providing military personnel for UN missions. During the same time period, Canada devoted only $214.2 million, or 3% of spending on international military operations, to UN operations.

There are currently 64,322 military personnel participating in UN missions around the world and only 59 of these military personnel are Canadian. Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Jordan, Nepal, Pakistan and Uruguay now have far greater troop contributions than many NATO countries. Canada is not alone in having virtually abandoned UN peacekeeping. Most western middle power states now contribute very little to UN missions.

I am wondering if we have now given up on peacekeeping. Could the minister state what the government's position is in regard to this decline in Canadian participation in UN peacekeeping missions?

[Business of Supply, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I am pleased to hear that and I think Canadians will be pleased to hear that. Of course we all hope there will not be any further loss of life as Canadians work to provide that kind of transportation in Afghanistan.

The minister has said before that the situation in Afghanistan will not be resolved by military means alone, which is something we in the New Democratic Party certainly understand.

What kind of diplomacy is taking place at this point in Kandahar province? What kind of relationship do the Canadians on the ground have with the governor in Kandahar province? I guess I would ask the minister how he foresees the diplomatic part of our role in Afghanistan proceeding? It appears from any information that we are getting that is not part of the mission at this point.

[Business of Supply, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, in terms of Afghanistan and the Canadian mission there, the minister knows that we have had some very serious concerns with the counter-insurgency nature of the mission.

I would like to know how the road building is going in Kandahar? When does the minister expect that project will be completed?

[Business of Supply, November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Chair, I thank the minister for his very clear answer.

I want to return now to the situation in Kandahar. At the defence committee, a question was raised about the auxiliary police of the Afghan national police system. It was reported that they were hiring teenagers, giving them 10 days of training and an AK-47 to work as auxiliary police officers around the road in Kandahar that Canadians are working to build.

I am wondering whether the minister has had an opportunity to investigate that situation. What are the minister's feelings about youngsters with AK-47s being brought on board as auxiliary police officers for the Afghan national police?