Greg Thompson

[Judges Act, March 14th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Wetaskiwin for the hard work he has done on the justice committee. I had the privilege of visiting his beautiful riding.

I will get more specifically to his point. The land claims issue is a big issue. Again, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development could speak with more authority than I. This legislation is a direct response to some of the needs up there, to free up the court to proceed with some of these land claims.

The member is being much too modest himself in terms of his contribution to the justice committee and the very positive role he has played in bringing the legislation forward. All members should applaud his hard work.

I am quite convinced the bill will reflect the real need in some of the specific areas that he mentioned.

[Judges Act, March 14th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, we responded in a very positive way to a need across the country. I am not sure the member's constituents would be really pleased to hear him suggest that there is a high rate of crime in that area.

There is almost complete agreement on what the Government of Canada is doing, and we all know that seldom happens in this place. We are responding to a real need with the legislation. I am proud of what we are doing. The agreement we see in the House clearly indicates that Parliament supports exactly what the minister has done.

[Judges Act, March 14th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I was speaking specifically about New Brunswick. I will admit that I do not know the details in Nova Scotia. I am sure the Minister of Justice or the parliamentary secretary would have more knowledge and more background to respond. However, when I do speak it is on what I know has happened in the province of New Brunswick. I also know that the member supports what we have done in New Brunswick.

We have had six appointments: three who are fully bilingual, two who are francophones and one who is anglophone. It is typical of New Brunswick, which is completely and fully bilingual, something I wish I were.

This speaks to the generosity of New Brunswick. When I travel to northern New Brunswick as a unilingual anglophone, I am received as I would be in any part of this country. Some of us do not have the ability to speak both languages. I wish I did but I cannot, not like the member opposite. However, it is a real testament to the generosity of this country that when we go there, the people fully appreciate that we are working on their behalf as best we can.

It is a credit to this country and to my home province of New Brunswick that a unilingual francophone or anglophone can be successful and achieve high office in government and in our court system. However, we are very sensitive to the fact that when people go before the court, we need to have a bilingual capability within our court system, and we have worked very hard to achieve that.

I want to point out for the member opposite that the member for Beauséjour was being disingenuous when he spoke. A point I made when I responded to the newspaper, the Telegraph Journal in New Brunswick, the paper ran what I considered to be a very one-sided story that did not actually represent the facts. One of the judges, who we appointed to what we call the military judges compensation committee, is the father-in-law of the member for Beauséjour. The reason he was appointed was that he is very qualified. His name is Guy A. Richard and, as I mentioned, he is the father-in-law of the member for Beauséjour who stood and suggested that we did not honour bilingualism in the province of New Brunswick. That is totally disingenuous.

In addition to appointing the judges I have mentioned to the superior court, we appointed the hon. member for Beauséjour's father-in-law, and he should consider that and be very cognizant of it when he next speaks in the House of Commons.

[Judges Act, March 14th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to stand today in support of Bill C-31, An Act to amend the Judges Act.

The amendment proposed in this bill would authorize the appointment of 20 new judges to the provincial superior trial courts, which will allow us to respond to an urgent need for more judges to handle increasing caseloads and mounting delays in a number of jurisdictions across the country. We have heard that in every corner of the country.

This amendment would support the effective and expeditious resolution of specific claims through the newly proposed specific claims tribunal.

As provided in Bill C-30, the specific claims tribunal act, the members of the specific claims tribunal are to be appointed among sitting Superior Court judges and six of the new appointments to be authorized under the bill are intended to help the Superior Courts to free up experienced judges to take on the new work of the tribunal.

The establishment of this tribunal represents the cornerstone of this government's reform of the specific claims resolution process. The remaining 14 appointments will be allocated among the 6 jurisdictions that have previously submitted compelling requests for more judges.

Each one of those jurisdictions of Nunavik, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and my home province of New Brunswick have provided detailed submissions to support their requests, and there is no doubt that these six provinces have an immediate need for these new appointments.

The Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights gave careful consideration to this bill and approved it without amendment, which is key. All parties in this House support this bill because we recognize that there is a real and pressing need for new judicial resources within our trial courts, and so do our chief justices, our judges, members of the bar and, most important, Canadians who are involved in our judicial system.

As well, the first nations communities look forward to having access to the effective and independent process offered by the specific claims tribunal. We certainly do not expect that this amendment is the answer, because it is not the answer to all future requirements of the courts. However, it does respond to the clear needs of the six affected provinces at this time. Our government has made it very clear that we are open to considering future requests for additional judges in due course and when that need is clearly demonstrated, as it has been in this case. When that occurs, the government will respond appropriately.

Before I close, I want to make one final important point about playing politics with our courts and the judges who preside over our courts.

This week in New Brunswick, we have seen the potential harm and danger that such political games can cause. We saw the member for Beauséjour try to score partisan points by claiming that our government was not appointing enough bilingual judges. Even the facts show otherwise. The member for Beauséjour simply refused to do his homework. Either that or he simply did not know or purposely ignored the fact that three of the six judges who we have appointed in New Brunswick are bilingual. Of course that is in a province where francophones make up 30% of the province's population.

I do not need to remind members that New Brunswickers are proud of our place in Canada's only officially bilingual province. We are proud of our linguistic duality. We are proud of how francophones and anglophones work every day, shoulder to shoulder, for a better future, a stronger province and a greater country, and our government supports that vision.

We will not let the political games being played by the member for Beauséjour divide New Brunswick or sidetrack our province in its steady progress. We are very proud of our province and the progress made by all governments, past and present, of the province of New Brunswick.

In that spirit, Bill C-31 represents an important step toward improving access to justice in Canada.

I wish to thank all hon. members for their recognition, the advancement of this significant bill and their support for its speedy passage. It is very much appreciated.

[Afghanistan, February 25th, 2008]

They did scurry out, Mr. Speaker, and they will continue to do that because they do not believe in the mission, they do not support our veterans, and they do not support our men and women in uniform. That is the sorry state of the NDP: all talk and no action. I guess that is why they are the fourth party in the House of Commons. I just wonder where their support is.

It is no secret that in military circles the leader of the NDP--and I have a base in my riding as members well know, Camp Gagetown, and I have met many of the military types across the country--is referred to as “Taliban Jack”. That tells it all. The NDP does not support our men and women in uniform and they know it. The NDP record is deplorable. Those members should be ashamed of themselves.

[Afghanistan, February 25th, 2008]

Missing in action, Mr. Speaker, hiding under the furniture. The member from Sackville is always on his hind legs in here ranting about what he would do, I guess, but his record speaks for itself. Those members have done absolutely nothing. For them to suggest that we are doing nothing is just fundamentally wrong, because we were asking for their support on the floor of the House of Commons in a minority Parliament. We were asking for their support to make this happen and they denied us that support. They voted against our veterans.

[Afghanistan, February 25th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I did in fact get a question from the NDP in the House today on that very issue. Actually, I simply said in this House that the NDP members are the masters of hypocrisy. As a government, we have funded and are actually doubling the number of occupational stress injury clinics in this country for our returning men and women. We are doubling that number, and what really galls me, and I think upsets me, is that the NDP members stood in this House and actually voted against that.

I have here the supplementary estimates, Mr. Speaker, and you know, as you were in the chair that night, that on December 6, 2007, the NDP members stood in their places and voted against the moneys to do that. They simply do not support our men and women in uniform. When they stand in the House to suggest that they do, the record is pretty clear that they do not support our men and women in uniform. They are absolutely the world's greatest hypocrites when it comes to defending our veterans.

How can they actually stand in their places and demand that the government do something? We are doing it. It is what we voted for. We voted to put resources into our veterans, into those stress clinics, into more front line workers for veterans, and they stood in their places and voted against it. It is just absolutely wrong.

[Afghanistan, February 25th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am sharing my time with the member for Northumberland—Quinte West.

I have said it many times and I will say it again this evening: Canada is the best country in the world. It is that simple. We live in a nation that is the envy of the world. It is a nation of enduring rights and a nation of enduring freedoms. It is a free and democratic nation. It is a peaceful nation and a nation of opportunity.

Canada did not become a great country by accident or by luck. Our country was built by generations of ordinary men and women seeking a better life, daring to dream and refusing to be defeated. That is Canada. That is our national character. That is our country.

What is more, our nation has remained great because of ordinary men and women doing extraordinary things, ordinary men and women who have always been willing to risk their own lives to defend Canada during a time of greatest need. That is our history. That is our tradition. We have always known what Edmund Burke meant when he said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Canada is not a bystander. We have never been a bystander in our relatively short time as a nation. That is why, as Canadians, we have accomplished so much. We did at Vimy Ridge what our allies thought was impossible. That is why Canadians were on the shores of Normandy, why Canadians were in Korea and why Canadians have been keeping the peace. In fact, Canada invented the term “peacekeepers”. It is a Canadian word. It is why Canadians are in Afghanistan today doing the hard work asked of us by the United Nations, by NATO and by the Afghan people themselves.

When the world calls, Canada answers, because that is the Canadian way. We do not pick and choose between the easy missions. We do not run away from our international obligations just because the missions are difficult. Edward R. Murrow once said, “Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts”. Difficult is an excuse our government will never accept, nor an excuse we need to accept.

We have the Manley report to guide us, to shape our actions and our future in Afghanistan. I urge every Canadian to get a copy of that report and to read it.

The Manley report is not simply the work of five eminent Canadians. It is not just the opinions of John Manley, Pamela Wallin, Derek Burney, Jake Epp and Paul Tellier. It is the result of their extensive consultations. It is a product of their fact finding trip to Afghanistan and their discussions with government officials and non-government organizations worldwide. It is a result of their listening to individual Canadians. It is a thoughtful, practical report and its conclusions are sobering, compelling and honest.

The terrorist threats we face are real. This is not an academic argument; it is real. We witnessed it in the horror we saw when the twin towers were destroyed and Canadian lives were lost. We have seen it continued in London, Madrid and Bali. We have discovered it on our own soil with homegrown terrorist plots. Our security is more than an abstract debate.

The Manley report weighs all of this. Allow me to read one paragraph from the Manley report.

Canadians have carried a heavy burden in Afghanistan. The toll in Canadian lives has been grievous, and it is painfully felt. The financial cost has been significant. The course of the conflict has caused us all to question whether Canada's involvement has been right or effective, and whether it will succeed.

Those are the facts. Those are the issues. Those are the questions we are trying to answer today. However, the Manley report goes beyond that. It also offers us direction. The report provides recommendations that are sound and reasonable and it outlines a path for success.

We all know this path will not be easy, but let me repeat: difficulty is not an excuse that history will accept. I am confident that difficulty is not an excuse that an overwhelming majority of Canadians will accept. Difficulty is not an excuse our servicemen and servicewomen will accept, because our soldiers are the best in the world. They are the best trained and the most professional and, as we have seen in Afghanistan, the most disciplined.

Throughout our history, the men and women serving our nation have stood tall no matter what the challenge and no matter what the sacrifice, because they know that freedom is never free. It has never been free in the history of this country and the history of the world. These men and women have been willing to pay a terribly high price for our way of life, for our shared values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.

That is the proud heritage that we have inherited, the heritage that has been handed down to us from what we call our greatest generations, and it is a heritage that comes with responsibilities. We have a sacred duty to honour our servicemen and servicewomen and to pledge our steadiest and most steadfast support for those who wear the uniform and those who have worn Canada's uniform.

We must stand by them in times of peace. We must stand by them in times of war. That is our mission and our responsibility: to serve those who have served us so well. As we debate the motion before us, it is important that we remember the great debt we have always owed our veterans and our servicemen and servicewomen and that we continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with them.

I know there are members of this House who believe that it is time to cut and run from Afghanistan, but even they readily acknowledge their pride in what our servicemen and servicewomen do every day, the sacrifices and the accomplishments, and Canadians join us in that pride. That is not wishful thinking or empty rhetoric.

A survey last month found that nine out of every 10 Canadians believe our veterans deserve to be honoured for their sacrifices, that they played a major role in building this great nation, and that we as a people are proud of our country's military role not just in the two great wars, not just in Korea or our many other peacekeeping missions, but today in Afghanistan as well. Our government shares that pride. We share that conviction. We share that commitment.

British Prime Minister David Lloyd George explained it best, very simply, in a speech he gave just days after the first world war had ended. He asked, “What is our task?” He answered by saying, “To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in”.

That remains our task today: to make our country a fit country for our heroes to live in. Because when we send our men and women on difficult and dangerous missions, they have to know, and know instinctively, that we will be there with them and we will be there with their families.

And we are. We are giving them the resources and equipment they need to take into combat. We are with them through the support we provide for them when they take off their uniforms one last time. We are with them today as they wear that one single proud word on their shoulders: Canada.

We are with them on their deployments. We are with them in our hearts, in our prayers and in our actions. That is what this motion is all about. We will not abandon our soldiers. We will not let their efforts or the ultimate sacrifices of their comrades be in vain. We will not walk away from them. We will not walk away from our duty to the world or our pledge to the people of Afghanistan.

In Rwanda we saw what happens when the world turns a blind eye, when the world fails to act, and when we walk the other way. We will not concede an inch to the terrorists or allow hatred and violence to change who we are or what we stand for.

This House has always stood tallest when our enemies have wanted most to weaken our resolve. Generations of parliamentarians have distinguished themselves here by rising to the great challenges of their times in making the difficult decisions. I know we will do the same.

We are adding to this chamber's history of important debates and important decisions. I know we will prove ourselves worthy to stand in this House to represent Canadians from our largest cities and our smallest villages and uphold the values that have made Canada the best country in the world.

[Canadian Forces, February 25th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, this is the NDP members at their hypocritical best, because as they well know, we doubled the amount of OSI clinics in this country in our last budget, and they stood in the House and voted against that budget. They never stand up for our men and women in uniform, including our veterans. Their record is deplorable.

I ask every member in the House to check the record when it comes to defending our men and women in uniform and our veterans.

[Veterans Affairs, December 3rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that was a correct ruling.

The NDP member who just asked the question has a terrible habit of piggybacking and tailgating on the backs of other members of Parliament. On this particular issue of Mrs. Carter, it was the member for Cape Breton—Canso who brought this issue to the floor of the House of Commons. It was that member who arranged a meeting between myself, the Prime Minister and Mrs. Carter and we stepped through how we would fix that program. I congratulate the member for doing it.

I say shame on the member for piggybacking and tailgating.