House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 57% of the vote.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, we have a great challenge. We inherited it from the previous government. We are rebuilding the entire armed forces, the air force, the army, the navy and all the base structure, and things have to be done in sequence.
We do not have enough money to do everything at the same time. We will be meeting our commitments to Goose Bay.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, when the government makes the decision on precise commitments, the announcements will be made.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, as I said previously, we will be meeting our commitments. However, I point out that the previous government was planning to close Goose Bay. It put in a few sops to try to get itself out of the problem.
We are maintaining Goose Bay.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, we will be meeting our commitments to the north. Like everything else, once the government has considered it and once it is approved by government, announcements will be made.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, the member is bringing up the idea of monitoring prisoners and I have said that it is not within the responsibility of the defence department.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I can answer part of the question in the sense that I do not provide details on prisoners. That is operational. However, on the other part of the question dealing with the number of detainee centres and the number of detainees who are in the hands of Canadians, the member will have to ask the foreign affairs minister. I think his officials are working on that now.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, as I said earlier to another questioner, these are operational matters and I do not discuss operational matters on TV.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I mentioned earlier that the defence department, once it has processed detainees and handed them over to the Afghan authorities, that is where the defence department's responsibility ends.
Other agents of government will be involved in the monitoring. However, for every detainee who is handed over to the Afghan authorities or for every detainee who is released by us, the human rights commission is informed and we inform the Red Cross so that they can monitor them.
As members know, under the new agreement, the human rights commission will have full access to all our detainees.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, the reason that there are more aircraft in Cold Lake is that the training squadron is there. Both operational squadrons meet our Canadian air defence needs. In fact, they have over the years had outstanding performance and they are a pride to us when we meet with our American compatriots in Norad.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I am not going to contend what the commissioner said or did not say. The career possibilities for francophones in the military is the same as anglophones. The member can check throughout the entire structure and he will see francophones right up to the top of the armed forces.
I will also point out that the language commissioner gave us an A for our plan and, on radio yesterday, he commended our efforts.