Art Eggleton

[National Defence, May 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I have no intention of cutting the military further.

The matter of reserves restructuring has to be noted in the context that we are still operating under the same reserves structure we had during the second world war. A lot of things have changed and there is a need for an update on it. Indeed, reservists, honorary colonels, people who I am sure the hon. member is concerned about, were involved in drafting this particular proposal which is now before us. At this stage it is only a proposal. There has been no decision made about it. I am happy to look at this proposal and other proposals.

[Kosovo, May 6th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, there are no plans to do that in the immediate future. We do have a formula for people coming back from peacekeeping duties to spend some time back here at home before they can be deployed into another theatre.

Is the member talking about taking somebody directly from Bosnia to Kosovo? No, we are not looking at that prospect at all.

In fact, the number we came up with, 800, and the roles that we are asking them to play in this peacekeeping are to bear in mind the fact that we want them to come back home after a six month period of time when they can be reunited with their families. We have taken all of that into consideration. That is all part of the quality of life that we want to improve for our Canadian troops.

[Kosovo, May 6th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, there has not been any request to that effect but certainly if there is, then of course we would have a very close look at it. There is nothing in the G-8 terms today that would change the picture in terms of the 800 peacekeepers we have sent over there. They can certainly play a very useful role under the G-8 formula for a solution to this.

[National Emergency Preparedness Week, May 3rd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member has pointed out, there are many disasters that affect Canadians, whether they be ice storms, forest fires or floods. We are very fortunate to have good professional people who work with strong local emergency measures organizations to assist our communities right across the country.

Canadians can play an important role by becoming more aware of what they need to do to be prepared in the case of an emergency. For that reason, this week has been declared National Emergency Preparedness Week in Canada. I invite all hon. members of the House to be more aware of emergency preparedness.

[National Defence, April 30th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful that at least one member of the Reform Party, the hon. member for Dauphin—Swan River, went yesterday. The hon. member for Edmonton North was not there and yet he was the member yesterday that was being quite critical.

I must say that the military people who are there have the highest regard for the equipment they are using. I would sooner take their word in that particular case.

They have the equipment to do the job that they need to do in this peacekeeping effort in Kosovo. All of the equipment is of recent vintage, within the last nine years. The Coyote is state of the art reconnaissance equipment. The Bison and the other—

[National Defence, April 29th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question because the opposition does not seem to have it right.

We do have the best possible equipment. It is all recent vintage and all purchased within the last nine years. People are being authorized to use it for peacekeeping. We have the Coyote, the Griffon helicopter, the Eryx system and the Bison vehicles. All of them are down at the Cartier Drill Hall right now.

I invite all hon. members to go from this House after question period, board the buses and go down and have a look at the equipment we are giving to our fine, dedicated men and women to use on this peacekeeping mission.

[National Defence, April 29th, 1999]

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am committed and the government is committed to giving them the resources they need to do the job. That is exactly what we are doing.

If hon. members opposite or any hon. member in the House would like to see what this equipment looks like, to see that it is the best possible equipment, it is just down the street at the Cartier Drill Hall.

We will have buses after question period that will take members down there. They could kick the tires and walk all over it and see that we have state of the art equipment which we are sending with our troops.

[National Defence, April 29th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I remember over the last five years, while the Minister of Finance was bringing the fiscal House in order and we were getting the deficit under control, hearing from them constantly. They said “You can't go fast enough. Take it out of defence. Take it out of social services. Take it out of the pensioners”. That is what they were saying over there.

We have been able to manage the situation fairly well, to the point where we will send troops over there that are well equipped and will do a good job for Canada.

[National Defence, April 29th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, members of the Reform Party are very inconsistent in this matter. They try to say that they want additional money to go into the budget. I read three of their documents and I do not know what part of the word reduce they do not understand. That is certainly in fact what they were advocating.

We value what our troops are doing over there. Canadians value what our troops are doing. It is a just cause that they are involved with. We want to make sure they have the proper equipment. They do and they will continue to have it.

[National Defence, April 29th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, we are providing a very significant contribution to this allied effort.

When I talked with General Short, head of the NATO air operation, he said our pilots were first teamers. He said they were among the best who serve there. They have CF-18s that are well equipped to do the job. The equipment we are giving to our people who are going to Macedonia will be state of the art equipment.

This kind of criticism coming from the Reform Party has to be borne in mind in light of the fact that in the last election it said let us cut defence by another $1 billion.