Art Eggleton

[National Defence, March 24th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, there was a Canadian naval task group, comprised of three frigates, a supply ship and a destroyer, on their way to exercises when this tragedy occurred 370 kilometres northeast of Bermuda.

The HMCS Iroquois , Charlottetown , Halifax and Toronto and the ship Preserver participated in the rescue. Sea King helicopters were deployed and, along with the Hercules and an Aurora aircraft, they rescued six of the crew members from two life rafts.

I think we owe our congratulations to the members of the Canadian forces for some fine work.

[National Defence, March 24th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the reference that perhaps the hon. member is making is to a duplicate payment, which was noted in the media of recent times. It has not been written off. We are taking every action we can to collect it.

We have substantially cut down this kind of problem. We are taking corrective action to reduce this kind of situation and to make sure that people are properly trained to ensure respect for the taxpayer dollar.

[National Defence, March 22nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the Senate a bill was introduced as an amendment to the National Defence Act, which entrenches, in law, a practice that we have carried out for a number of years, and that is that no one under the age of 18 can be deployed to an area of hostilities in the name of the Canadian forces.

That helps to set a good, strong example of leadership for Canada to participate with other countries at the UN in dealing with the problem of war affected children. I am pleased to be working with my colleague in Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation to reduce the plight against war affected children.

[Supply, March 21st, 2000]

It makes money. There is a profit.

[National Defence, March 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, let me make it clear. My top priority is to make sure that our troops who do a great job for us get the tools they need to do the job. Replacement of the Sea Kings is a matter we are proceeding on at this moment. It is our top procurement priority and one on which we are finalizing the strategy because we need to replace those Sea King helicopters and soon.

[Questions On The Order Paper, March 1st, 2000]

(a) September 23, 1998.

(b) A driver from the Department of National Defence, DND, was delivering luggage to DND personnel who were staying at the Holiday Inn Harbour View while on temporary duty in Halifax.

(c) The DND driver backed into the overhang at the front of the hotel.

(d) The overhang was repaired.

(e) The DND driver was verbally reprimanded by his supervisor and placed on remedial training.

(f) No.

[National Defence, February 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's budget was good news for the Canadian Forces.

There was a very clear commitment by the government to strengthen the capacity of the Canadian Forces to do their jobs, to help improve the quality of life for our troops, to help make sure they get the equipment they need to do the job, to make sure they get training and education and leadership development programs.

I want to thank the hon. member, members of SCONDVA and members of the finance committee for their support.

[National Defence, February 22nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, we have offered independent testing for those who may be affected by depleted uranium, those troops who served in overseas missions, because we want to get to the truth of the matter. We want to know if their health is being affected by any exposure to depleted uranium. First and foremost we will look after the health needs of our troops.

[National Defence, February 17th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I answered that in the previous question, but let me say something else. If the Conservatives when they were in power had not bungled the helicopter matter, spending far more money than what was needed for a helicopter that was totally inappropriate for today's needs, we would be a lot further ahead in terms of this replacement at this point in time. They wasted taxpayer money.

[National Defence, February 17th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the announcement from my colleague the Minister of Veterans Affairs is most welcome in terms of the pensions for those who have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

That is completely in accordance with what my department and what the government want to do. We want to look after our troops. We want to make sure if any of them go over healthy and come back sick that in fact we look after them.

In terms of depleted uranium I have indicated that we do want people who feel they might have been affected to come forward. They will be tested. We will give them every opportunity to do so. We want to make sure that they are properly looked after.