Elsie Wayne

[Supply, June 4th, 2002]

Mr. Chairman, I have great respect for the hon. minister.

Just last month while on a visit to Saint John, New Brunswick which is my riding, the Minister of Labour who is from Moncton stated on a local radio show that in order to get government contracts or grants or sponsorships the people had to elect a Liberal member of parliament and it would have been far better for my riding if the people wanted to get any contracts or any business whatsoever to have elected a Liberal member.

Does the minister agree with these types of comments? Is that the way the government functions, not for the whole of Canada when it is elected, not to do what is best for all of Canada, but just for the ridings that elect a Liberal member of parliament?

[Question No. 143, June 3rd, 2002]

Concerning the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation programs to assist handicapped persons make modifications to a residence, does the government have plans to raise the income threshold for assistance and is there a process of automatic review of the threshold?

[Shipbuilding, May 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, that is not what Vice President Cheney told me when I asked him about it.

In the last election the Liberals campaigned on saving the shipbuilding industry in Canada. A year later the Minister of Industry offered a list of recommendations from stakeholders. All we got was a list. Today, a once great and proud shipbuilding industry is fighting for its survival and shipbuilders cannot feed their families.

Will the Prime Minister rise today and offer a concrete commitment to bring in a new shipbuilding policy and put our men and women back to work?

[Shipbuilding, May 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, eight months ago I advised the Prime Minister and the Minister for International Trade that the Bush administration might be prepared to make changes to the crippling Jones Act. That information came directly from Vice President Cheney during a meeting that our leader, the member for Cumberland--Colchester and I had with the hon. vice president.

Could the Prime Minister or the minister responsible advise the House what steps they have taken to negotiate a change to the Jones Act, an act that continues to undermine our shipbuilding industry?

[National Defence, May 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, some of the families of our men in Afghanistan have been asked by their sons to send them some food. They have to go to a U.S. mess to eat. We do not have a Canadian mess over there and they say the food is absolutely horrible. Also, some of them have lost 30 pounds in three months and are wearing winter uniforms in 49°C temperature.

Will the Minister of National Defence today give a commitment and tell us in the House that he will look into this situation, that he will ensure they have the right food and the right clothes and that he will do it today?

[National Defence, May 8th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to an issue that should have been raised last night but was not due to the petty politics of the Canadian Alliance.

In the past month I have been contacted by several families whose sons are soldiers currently serving in Afghanistan. In each case their boys have written home asking their loved ones to send them some food because of a shortage of acceptable rations in the field.

One case in particular is very disturbing because the soldier has lost over 30 pounds since he arrived there in February. We have often condemned the government for not supplying our soldiers with the equipment they need to do their jobs. It would now appear as though they are not even supplying them with food either.

The people of Canada are sick and tired of the government cutting corners and cutting costs when it comes to our military. The time has long passed for us to treat our men and women in uniform with the respect that they so richly deserve and send them the food they need.

[National Defence, May 1st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it seems that with each passing week the Minister of National Defence is forced to confirm further problems with his bargain basement used subs.

Last week he would not comment on the possibility of problems with the hull valves, yet yesterday his officials confirmed that we were correct.

The question we now ask again concerns metal fatigue. Can or will the minister confirm that one or more of these used submarines is currently plagued with metal fatigue? Can or will the minister advise the House of all the problems currently known to his department with respect--

[National Defence, April 25th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it will cost millions and millions of dollars to fix the dent.

Could the minister confirm that every single hull valve on the HMCS Victoria may have to be replaced, costing millions and millions of dollars? Furthermore, it has come to my attention just this week that at least three of the four subs have potential metal fatigue which could cause catastrophic flooding.

Did the British advise the government of these problems? Could the minister also tell us what the total cost will be?

[National Defence, April 25th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence has called the leaks and dents on the used submarines a minor problem. Also, the minister has stated that the subs were inspected before they were purchased and that he will table any such inspection reports in the House.

Could the minister inform the House today whether he is aware of any other serious technical or physical problems with these four submarines the government has purchased?

[Canadian Forces Day, April 24th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I rise to support the motion moved by my hon. colleague from Nepean--Carleton. I thank him very much for the work he has done. Coming on the heels of last week's tragedy in Kandahar, bringing forth a motion proclaiming the first Sunday in June Canadian forces day seems more timely than ever. Even before the events of last week recognition of our men and women in the armed forces is long overdue.

Kandahar served as a wake-up call to all Canadians to the threats and dangers that our armed forces personnel face every day. In recent years we have come to see war and conflict as something of a sanitized process, hoping that technology can prevent the overwhelming loss of human life like we saw in the two world wars. Where there is war and conflict, there is danger. As long as our armed forces personnel and indeed Canadians as a whole are willing to travel to all corners of the globe to protect the values we believe in and the lives of innocent civilians, we must recognize the risks involved.

I have been involved with the committee on defence and veterans affairs for nine years. I asked for those positions because to me they are the most important people in Canada. Not only do these men and women make tremendous sacrifices to defend our country and our ideals, but they do so knowing that one day their job could result in their death. For many of us it is hard to imagine such a line of work. It is a true testament to our armed forces personnel that they knowingly accept this risk for the good of our country.

Consider all the missions at home and abroad that have been mentioned here tonight that our Canadian soldiers have been involved in over the years. Canada rarely fails to answer the call when the United Nations comes forward looking for peacekeepers. Genuine Canadian troops have emerged from peacekeeping efforts, such as Roméo Dallaire in Rwanda and Lewis MacKenzie in the former Yugoslavia. These individuals were in the spotlight, but think of all the soldiers we did not hear about and who still had to witness the horrors that took place in those countries. Some of them still live to this day with the trauma of what they saw.

Canadian armed forces personnel are involved in key operations the world over as we speak. We have been focusing on Afghanistan and rightly so, but let us not forget our troops in the Balkans, the Golan Heights, Cyprus, Sierra Leone and the Congo, just to name a few. Let us also not forget that we have lost the lives of peacekeepers on a number of these missions in recent years. They were also Canadian heroes.

Let us not forget that our armed forces are also involved with DART, our disaster assistance response team, which was created in 1996 to be deployed in situations ranging from natural disasters to complex humanitarian emergencies. They have seen service in places like Haiti, Honduras and Turkey. These specially trained individuals are the finest examples of the military evolving to meet the challenges of our changing world where threats are not just of the military variety but also include earthquakes, floods, disease and hunger. We have seen that.

One of my fondest recollections of our armed forces personnel will always be the help they provided to the millions of Canadians who were hurt by the ice storm in 1998. Fourteen thousand troops, including 2,300 reserves, were deployed to help Canadians through one of the worst storms in our history. I have heard countless tales from constituents who were holed up in their homes during the storm, feeling cold and isolated, only to have one of our armed forces personnel show up at the door offering assistance.

There was the Manitoba flood. Our colleagues in Quebec suffered through the Saguenay flood. For both of those disasters our military people were there. I say to my hon. colleagues here and to all the members on the defence committee that it is very important for us to make sure that we give our troops all of the equipment they need to do their job.

Today we had the debate on our submarines which are used. The Sea Kings need to be replaced and I know that it has been mentioned before as well.

All of us on both sides of the House have to work to put the money back into the budget for those men and women because they cannot come to the Hill and protest. They are looking to everyone of us who sit in the House to speak up. They want to do the job for us.

There is something else that I want to see along with the special armed forces day. Because we have such a proud military history, we owe it to ourselves to continue this legacy. I would hope that as part of the armed forces day we would make a concerted effort to educate young people of today about the past achievements of the Canadian military together with its current successes.

Study after study show that Canadians, and in particular our youth, have very little knowledge of our military history. I would suggest to hon. colleague from Nepean--Carleton that every effort be made in our schools and communities to educate young Canadians about Canada's past and to instill in them a sense of pride on this very special first Sunday in June, our armed forces day.

I would also like to ensure that special recognition is given to the families of our military personnel on armed forces day. The husbands, wives, sons, daughters, parents and grandparents of our military personnel make incredible sacrifices as well. I know that through my brothers who served in the second world war. They have to suffer the worry when our troops go abroad and the loneliness of missed loved ones. They often move from base to base not getting a chance to develop roots in any particular area. Worst of all, when our troops are abroad, they live with the fear of getting a knock on the door in the middle of the night to receive news of injury or death, just like some did just recently because of what happened in Afghanistan.

I thank my hon. colleague for bringing this forward, but we have a job to do to carry it through. We have to ensure that we look after our military men and women and their families. We have to ensure that we teach our young people in the school system so when they become our age they will remember the efforts of our military and on armed forces day honour those individuals.

I would like to remind my hon. colleague that while this is a worthwhile symbolic move, we all have to address the challenges facing our military men and women. We have to help them do their job as best as possible and provide them the best equipment, resources and support. Canada will join a long list of countries that have already proclaimed an armed forces day. For a country with as proud a military as ours in Canada, this is long overdue.

Military recruiters say there is no life like it. That could not be more true. Such a lifestyle requires special individuals and Canada certainly has a host of them in the armed forces. I am honoured and pleased to support the motion to help recognize the achievement of Canada's military. I call on all Canadians to join in celebrating Canada's armed forces on the first Sunday in June. We have a lot of which to be proud.