Art Eggleton

[National Defence, May 15th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, people in the United States are concerned about the weapons of mass destruction and their spreading throughout the world. They are coming here to tell us what their objectives are with respect to missile defence. We certainly want to listen. We certainly want to understand what their plan is. We want to understand what the costs are. We want to understand what the implications are for global security. We are in that consultation phase.

[National Defence, May 15th, 2001]

No, Mr. Speaker.

[National Defence, May 15th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary and all on this side of the House are certainly quite respectful of all those who have served with the Canadian forces. There may be times when we agree to disagree on certain issues.

I can tell the member that with respect to this matter of whether our troops are combat capable, they are indeed. They are much better than they have been for a great many years because of the kind of investment which has been put in place by the government.

[National Defence, May 10th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is quoting some outdated thinkers, I must say, of which he is one.

As I have said continuously, until we are able to get the new helicopter we will make sure that these helicopters, the Sea Kings, are safe to fly. The United States, the most modern military in the world, also flies Sea Kings of this vintage. It, like us, wants to make sure they are safe to fly. If they are not safe to fly we will not fly them. It is as simple as that.

[Health, May 9th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is not a question of passing the buck. Everybody knows that the provinces have responsibility for education. We are willing to do anything we can to co-operate.

We certainly want the school board to do its work to clean this up so that the children of our forces personnel will be safe. We will do everything we can to co-operate. It quite clearly has the responsibility to do the work.

[Health, May 9th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the school is not under the jurisdiction of the Department of National Defence. It is in fact under the operation of a local school board with responsibilities to the province of British Columbia.

We have the school on our property. That is quite true. We have indicated we are anxious to lease the property to them, but the function of the school and the repairs and maintenance of the school are the responsibility of the local school board.

[National Defence, May 9th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it should come as no surprise to the hon. member, because it has been part of the defence white paper since 1994, that we would engage in consultation and observation. In fact, having somebody in that office is a good way of getting the information that we need to make a decision and to understand the process that the United States is going through at the moment.

[Space Shield, May 8th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, we will take that matter under advisement. It is still to be determined as to what the schedule will be of the consultation and at what levels the consultation will occur.

I want to assure the hon. member that ultimately this parliament will play a key role in dealing with the matter of missile defence decisions.

[National Defence, May 8th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the United States is concerned, as we all should be concerned, about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Whether or not this is an appropriate response is one that will be determined over the next few months in terms of consultation that is now being undertaken.

Canada will be part of that consultation, as will many other countries. We want to know the specifics of what the United States has in mind. It has a broad range of options. It is important that we know what its intentions are so that we will be in a position to then make a rational decision on the matter.

[National Defence, May 7th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, we take responsibility for upgrading this housing. The hon. member seems to have forgotten that we have already spent some $250 million to do that. We are spending more this year and we are committed to doing the job.