House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 57% of the vote.
National Defence November 2nd, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I met with the ombudsman and reviewed his report and I have ordered our department to implement the changes immediately.
We will not treat soldiers like they were treated in the past. We will make sure that from now on and into the future they will be treated properly when they return from missions.
National Defence October 31st, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I will say it again. We have no plans, no intentions, no musings about sending CF-18s to Afghanistan.
National Defence October 31st, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate this question. I do not know how many times I am going to say that we have no plan; we are not considering sending CF-18s to Afghanistan.
The six CF-18s that I referred to yesterday are committed to the NATO reaction force, which has nothing to do with Afghanistan and has nothing to do with Kosovo.
We are not sending CF-18s to Afghanistan.
National Defence October 31st, 2006
Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of the commitment in 2002 until today, the incremental costs for Afghanistan are about $2.1 billion, period.
National Defence October 31st, 2006
Mr. Speaker, the money going to Afghanistan is in support of our troops. It is in support of the battle group. It is in support of the PRT. It is all there for all the troops in Afghanistan.
National Defence October 30th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, recently we made a commitment to NATO that we will have six CF-18s ready for NATO if it requires us. That is why the money was spent to fix up these CF-18s.
National Defence October 30th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, there has been no recommendation to deploy CF-18s. They will not be deployed unless there is an operational requirement. At this time, there is no operational requirement.
Challenger Jet Use October 30th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, as I said, we are following the practice of the previous government. We have paid for any flights that were not on official government business. I want to point out that the previous government was using Challenger jets at twice the rate that this government is.
Challenger Jet Use October 30th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, there has been no political interference at all within the practices of DND, which were originally set by the Liberal Party. We are following precisely the rules set by the previous administration.
National Defence October 26th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I have been extensively briefed on all the issues within the defence department. If the hon. member wants to sit down somewhere with me and contest who knows what in the defence department, I am prepared to do that.