Art Eggleton

[Health, March 21st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian forces and the Department of National Defence have been working very closely and very co-operatively with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to make sure everything is done to prevent this disease from coming into the country. Everything we could possibly do is being done.

Upon disembarkation from any aircraft passengers must be clean and disinfected including their footwear. A procedure is carried out. There is a complete procedure involved to make sure that we do everything possible to prevent that disease from coming into the country.

[National Defence, March 21st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member conveniently leaves out certain parts. I have the document here too. That is not what it says at all.

In effect, what these judges did quite clearly was dismiss the case. They said a case had not been made. There was an allegation. The case was not made. That is the end of it.

[National Defence, March 21st, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member continues to have it all wrong. She said that the court called this patent politicization within the Department of National Defence, that the three judges said it.

That is not true at all. Certainly the citation by the people who took the case to court was to that effect, but the judges did not find that at all. They dismissed the case.

[National Defence, March 20th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has not correctly characterized what General Jeffery said, but let me say that General Jeffery, as is the government, is determined to implement the 1994 white paper defence policy. We are determined to make sure that our troops get the resources they need.

In addition to considering additional resources, we have to look at making sure the existing resources we have are used in the most efficient and effective way possible. That is all of what General Jeffery and the army are attempting to do at this point. There is no decision on any cutting of troops.

[National Defence, March 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, we are not cozying up and we are not training them. We are entering into a dialogue with the Chinese. The Chinese military is an important part of the elements of security and defence in the Pacific. Engaging in constructive dialogue is a good thing to do.

The United States, which also has many Korean war veterans, and other countries all do the same things including constructive dialogue. It also gives us the opportunity to show them how we operate in Canada and how our values of democracy work well. We are given that opportunity when we have constructive dialogue.

[National Defence, March 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, there is no mess and there is no difference among the minister of public works, myself and the cabinet on this matter.

That shows that the member really does not know what he is talking about because there is a prime contractor. It will be the mission system integrator. There will be two competitions so we can get the best price and the best product to meet our needs.

[National Defence, March 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, we are proceeding with the procurement for maritime helicopters to replace the Sea King. It is our priority purchase.

I am still hopeful that we could have them by the end of 2005. I talked with the assistant deputy minister in charge of procurement and insisted that we do everything possible to speed up the procurement process so that we can get those helicopters just as quickly as we can to meet our needs, and to get them at the best possible price for Canadian taxpayers.

[National Defence, March 16th, 2001]

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

[National Defence, March 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, there have been failings in the past in terms of how these issues have been dealt with. There is a data gap. There is no doubt about it. Much of the information in the report that was published is based on anecdotal information.

We are determined that we are going to cover that gap in terms of data collection. We are going about doing it in a much better way now so that we can have the kind of measurements for progress year in and year out to show that we are in fact implementing our employment equity plan. We are determined to do that.

[National Defence, March 16th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, there has been great change in the Canadian forces over the last few years. Over 300 recommendations that came out of such reports as the Somalia commission and various other studies are in effect changing the culture of the Canadian forces.

What the report the member cited also said was that a sound employment equity plan was put in place a year ago. They supported that, I supported that and we will implement it. We will make sure we remove those barriers and make the Canadian forces more reflective of society as it is today in Canada.