Art Eggleton

[National Defence, February 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member does not seem to recognize that we have almost 5,000 Canadian troops overseas at this point in time. Almost 3,000 are involved in the Afghan campaign alone. We have troops in Bosnia, the Golan Heights and numerous other operations. We are contributing in a very major way to international peace and security.

[National Defence, February 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has it quite wrong. In terms of who has strategic airlift capacity, only the United States with the U.K. have it. All of the other countries now going into Afghanistan, Germany, France, Italy, all of them, are chartering commercial aircraft to get themselves in.

We have a project office. There are various options we are looking at with respect to dealing with the question of transportation.

[National Defence, February 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, many of the fundamentals of the last white paper that was done in 1994 are quite relevant: protecting Canada and Canadians, contributing to security of the continent, contributing to international peace and security through peace support operations, through organizations such as the United Nations and through NATO. Those are still quite relevant.

We need to look at the kind of defence capabilities we need. It has been eight years since that white paper was designed. The security environment has changed. This is a good opportunity to do an update.

[National Defence, February 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the government is supporting our Canadian forces. Over $5 billion over the next five years in new money will be added to the budget. The budget will rank us the sixth country in NATO and the 16th in the world in terms of defence spending.

In addition to looking at money being put into defence, let us also look at what we get out of it, the outcomes. Let us look at what our troops are doing in Afghanistan and in the Arabian Sea. They are doing an excellent job.

[National Defence, February 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I think the right hon. member is getting far beyond what is reasonable here. There is nothing that the JTF2 has done that is outside government policy.

Perhaps the hon. leader of the Senate was referring to the general controversy on detainees and the American treatment of detainees, which I think has been put to rest with the comments of President Bush that in fact they will all be treated in accordance with humane treatment as provided for in the Geneva conventions.

[National Defence, February 20th, 2002]

No, Mr. Speaker.

[National Defence, February 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I am as disturbed about leaks as anybody else is in terms of information that is in cabinet confidence.

I do not know what the source of that was. They do not appear to have had the document, from what I read in the media report, but seemed to be aware that a document exists.

However, the document is part of cabinet confidence. It is clearly the policy under which JTF2 operates and it is one that this government is responsible for.

[National Defence, February 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, there is no leak that the government has made with respect to this matter.

This particular document is a cabinet confidence document, like many other cabinet policies are, and there is nothing unusual about that. The JTF2 for the security of its people and the security of its operations in fact operates in the same way as do special forces of many other countries in the world.

I have tried to be as open as possible about this organization while maintaining the necessary security for its operations and its people.

[National Defence, February 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the documentation that the hon. member refers to is a cabinet document and holds the confidence of the cabinet, as do any other policies of that kind.

Let me talk about a document. It is a document that comes from a member of the House. It says “As a matter of record, I sincerely hope your department and the government do not make the identity, whereabouts and actions of the joint task force 2 and our military a matter of public knowledge other than in vague terms”. It is signed by an Alliance member, the hon. member for Esquimalt--Juan de Fuca.

[National Defence, February 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I am a civilian. I am a civilian who is accountable for the actions of the JTF2. I am a civilian who is accountable to the Prime Minister, to the House, to parliament and to the people of Canada. I take that accountability very seriously as does the Prime Minister.

The JTF2 operates within government policy and within Canadian law and will continue to do so.