David Collenette

[National Defence, October 3rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I really have tried to avoid politics as much as possible in this whole matter.

Canadians want to find the truth regarding what happened with our deployment to Somalia. They want the commission to do its work.

The leader of the Reform Party talks about Canadians deserving better from the government. Canadians deserve better from the opposition. They deserve an opposition that asks constructive, intelligent questions that contribute to the national policy debate, not to come here every day and try to make partisan political interjections on the facts not only of the inquiry but of the Canadian military itself.

[National Defence, October 3rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I think the public is finding it quite odd that the Reform Party, day in and day out, is going at this issue. It is, in effect, undermining the integrity of the inquiry process.

Canadians want constructive suggestions about the economy, about national unity, about pension reform, about agriculture, about a host of other issues that affect them in their daily lives.

What do we have here? We have a party that ostensibly supported the inquiry process but has done everything, by its behaviour in the House of Commons, to undermine it. That is unacceptable.

[National Defence, October 3rd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the point was made yesterday by the Prime Minister that what we are seeing here is the politicizing of the entire hearing process dealing with our deployment to Somalia.

This government has tried to do the right thing. We proposed an inquiry. We created the inquiry. We want the inquiry to do its job. We will hold to that line.

Obviously the leader of the Reform Party does not like those answers, but he is going to get those answers until the inquiry reports.

He says there is one thing that cannot be avoided and that there is a problem. I would say that we could use the same language about him and his party. There is one thing his party cannot avoid. The fact is there is a problem with leadership; it is a problem with his leadership.

[Somalia Inquiry, October 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, we have been very consistent in our answers. You have heard them again today.

What is very troubling is that at this time people in the armed forces are feeling a lot of pain; people in the House of Commons are feeling a lot of pain; Canadians are feeling a lot of pain about the problems we have had with this particular mission. These are being looked into by the inquiry.

For members to come here to the House of Commons and exploit the pain of an individual soldier, to come here to the House of Commons and basically give the impression that somehow lives are at risk goes beyond any partisan politics I have ever seen in nearly 20 years of being in and out of this Chamber.

I would only hope for decency's sake that the hon. member and his colleagues would let the inquiry do its work and leave the members of the armed forces to continue to do the good job they are doing.

[The Somalia Inquiry, October 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, there are fundamental principles of justice at stake and they concern a number of individuals who will be going before the inquiry. We should allow the inquiry to hear all the evidence and allow each individual the right that all Canadians deserve, and that is to be heard in an impartial setting and have those people who are conducting the inquiry come to reasoned judgments in a way that will reflect the principles of Canadian justice.

[The Somalia Inquiry, October 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, what the government and I want at all cost is for the commission of inquiry to be allowed to do its work, to do it in an unfettered way and come to reasoned judgments. Then the government will respond.

[The Somalia Inquiry, October 2nd, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, we have made the same argument a number of times over the last few weeks. We have a process that is now working and that is the commission of inquiry. All people are free to come to the inquiry and give their evidence and facts as they see them.

It is inappropriate for anyone's testimony, anyone's set of facts, anyone's set of circumstances that is being raised at the inquiry to be debated in the House of Commons. Let the commissioners do their work. Let them issue a report and the government will respond.

[Somalia, October 1st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, this government

has given the Canadian people a commission of inquiry to look into all the matters of concern to the hon. member. Let it do its job.

[Somalia, October 1st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I was confused when I read the Globe and Mail yesterday morning. I was confused when I saw the individual on television last night. I am even more confused with the interpretation of events by this hon. member in the House today.

The fact is certain allegations were made in a newspaper. They have been called into question. That is not a matter for me to debate.

[Canadian Armed Forces, October 1st, 1996]

The hon. member knows that I have said we are reviewing all procedures and practices at national defence and one of them will be the military justice system. I hope Parliament will take part in that review and I hope the hon. member will make some reasoned and informed comments instead of the ones that he has been making.

The hon. member talks about shambles. The only thing that is in shambles is the Reform Party of Canada. Day after day its members come here and they castigate people in the military. They reflect upon the judicial process, the commission on Somalia. They have nothing to say on national unity, nothing on the economy, nothing on agriculture, nothing on social justice, nothing on pension reform. The Reform Party has nothing to say.