House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 57% of the vote.
Afghanistan November 23rd, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I find it odd that a member who belongs to a party that really does not care about the military is talking about the military. I have been to Halifax twice since I have been in office and I will be in Halifax again in the near future, but I will follow my own schedule.
National Defence November 22nd, 2006
Mr. Speaker, all the necessary actions were taken to clean up the spill. I should inform the member that DND is spending about $60 million each year cleaning up residue that was left in the north for the last 30 to 40 years. We will continue to do that until all the areas are cleaned up.
National Defence November 22nd, 2006
Mr. Speaker, as soon as that incident occurred, the defence department moved quickly to clean it up. All the necessary actions have been taken.
Veterans Affairs November 22nd, 2006
Mr. Speaker, it is my great honour today to announce that our new government will be extending Canada's chemical warfare agent testing recognition program to account for those who volunteered as test subjects in Britain. These 200 veterans, or possibly their primary beneficiaries, are now eligible for a one time tax payment of $24,000. They will finally be recognized for the personal sacrifice they made in the service of Canada.
Supporting our brave men and women in uniform means giving them the recognition and care they are due when their service is done. Those who served decades ago need our support today. Canada's new government is honoured to be able to give it to them.
National Defence November 21st, 2006
Mr. Speaker, before we can take action, we have to know what the precise definition of the problem is. As I said, we have a study ongoing right now to define where the pollution is and then we will correct it.
National Defence November 21st, 2006
Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, the Department of National Defence has an investigation going on right now. A company is there mapping out all these shells and explosives. As soon as we know the condition, we will start to correct it.
Afghanistan November 21st, 2006
Mr. Speaker, the mission in Afghanistan is on the right track.
We also have no problem recruiting people for our special forces, contrary to what the member is alleging. When we took over, the armed forces had been dramatically reduced; the training system was in great difficulty. What we are doing now is we are being innovative. We are using community colleges, we are using training institutions, we are using retired military to help train in the skills of the military, but everybody who is trained by these means must be fully qualified before they are accepted and tested.
National Defence November 20th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I have said a number of times in this House that we have sufficient capacity to meet our commitments in Afghanistan.
Quite separately, we recognize that there is an Olympic games in 2010. We have not been formally requested by the province to provide troops but we are sort of advancing our plans now.
The member must be aware that this country has somewhere near 50,000 army, air force and navy troops available.
Afghanistan November 8th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I did not get the question; however, this government is committed in Afghanistan until the end of February 2009. We will carry on with the mission. We are going to work as hard as we can to improve the lives of Afghans and to provide as much security as we can to Kandahar.
Afghanistan November 8th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, it is the equivalent of me asking the NDP if the election of Daniel Ortega will have changed its policies.