Jack Harris

[Afghanistan, October 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian soldiers are highly trained professionals who are respected around the world and Canadians are right to be proud of them. Yet by delaying these hearings and undermining the investigation into serious allegations of prisoner abuse, the government is doing our soldiers and their sacrifice a great disservice.

We need to know what happened to clear the air of these allegations. Anything less will only continue to undermine the morale of our troops. Canadians deserve answers and our soldiers deserve answers.

When will the minister stop throwing up roadblocks and let this inquiry complete its work?

[Afghanistan, October 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, from gagging witnesses to delay tactics and even to the forced exit of the respected chair of the commission hearings, the government continues to undermine the investigation on Afghan prisoner abuse. This behaviour is not about national security concerns. This is about government embarrassment.

There are allegations that the Kandahar governor at the time, Asadullah Khalid, was himself involved in the torture of detainees and that Canada knew. Is this why the government is embarrassed? Is this why the minister is interfering in the hearings?

[Committees of the House, October 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the member for Richmond Hill talk about what is happening in Afghanistan. Of course we support all of our troops and every Canadian in Afghanistan who believes they are providing something important to the Afghan people.

However, I have a problem and perhaps the member can help me. We do have some very knowledgeable people. I will quote Scott Taylor, who is a well-known military writer, who recently said:

IT WOULD SEEM that even the most hawkish of pundits have now come to the conclusion that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable, and that this conflict is fast becoming a quagmire akin to the American fiasco in Vietnam.

The second point I would put to him is the suggestion today by the spokesman for the Afghan national army that it will be four years before they can take over security. General McChrystal has said that he would like to see 124,000 Afghan troops by next year and to have that doubled by 2013, which is four years from now, to 250,000 troops.

The third thing I would put to him is the incident that happened in Dand last week where General Vance berated the local villagers because of a roadside bomb incident. It seemed to me that he was saying that it was up to the Afghan villagers to provide security to the Canadian forces and not the other way around.

Those three facts put together seem to indicate that we are heading in the wrong direction there and that this is not going the way we would like to see it go. I would like to know whether he thinks that Canada could be doing more to achieve peace instead of figuring out how to continue to fight a war that cannot be won.

[Committees of the House, October 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the parliamentary secretary could enlighten us on one question that bothers me. It seems to me that the confidence of people in this country in the ability of Canada to achieve anything meaningful in Afghanistan has been seriously eroded. It is not surprising when we see the shifting sands in the kinds of commitments that are expected, that the international community expects to happen in Afghanistan.

The London compact of 2006 had an aim of expanding by the end of 2010 the Afghan national army to a ceiling of 70,000 personnel. Yet, we see in today's Globe and Mail reports of an expectation by the Americans that the Afghan national army would go from its current strength of 96,000 to 124,000 by next year. This is what U.S. General Stanley McCrystal wants. He wants it to be doubled by 2013. So we are talking double that number by 2013. We are talking, in four years, about an expectation of 250,000 troops in the Afghan national army. Then they will be able to take over security within four years.

If we are not dealing with a war in Afghanistan that people want to see an end to, what are we dealing with when we are looking at 250,000 troops to maintain this situation?

[Afghanistan, October 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Tinsley's forced exit jeopardizes the entire process.

Granting extensions to commissioners whose terms end during lengthy proceedings is a well-established practice. Independent tribunals have been recognized by our Supreme Court as having quasi-constitutional status.

The minister's decision not to reappoint Mr. Tinsley is clearly politically motivated and undermines the credibility of all arm's-length agencies.

If the minister will not reappointment Mr. Tinsley, will he at least grant him an extension to complete this very serious investigation of Canadian knowledge of torture and killings in Afghanistan?

[Afghanistan, October 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Peter Tinsley, chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission, leading the Afghan torture probe will be forced from office by the government before his hearings have been completed.

The minister has denied his request to be allowed to finish his work. He could have completed the probe within his term of office, but government delays have made that impossible.

Running out the clock on Mr. Tinsley's term of office will not make the allegations of torture, abuse and extra-judicial killings go away. Why will the minister not allow Mr. Tinsley to finish his important work?

[Afghanistan, September 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the issue was sexual assault of young boys and today it is a gag order, hiding from torture allegations.

Now the Minister of National Defence is saying that Canada is prepared to continue the mission in Afghanistan beyond 2011. He said this despite countless promises by the Prime Minister that Canadian troops would not remain in Kandahar beyond that date and despite a vote in the House confirming 2011 as the redeployment date for our troops.

Is the defence minister violating the will of the House and breaking the government's word to the people of Canada on our Afghan mission?

[Afghanistan, September 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government continues to undermine the Military Police Complaints Commission's hearings into detainee transfers in Afghanistan leading to torture.

The government has ordered subpoenaed witnesses to say nothing to the commission. Now it has been revealed that a secret military police investigation took place and the results have not been made public.

Is this the government's response to the charges of Canadian complicity in torture in Afghanistan? What is the government trying to hide from the Canadian people?

[Afghanistan, September 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the sexual abuse of young boys is a serious matter.

There are now reports that military police were told not to intervene in such matters, and they had the belief that if they were to intervene they would not be supported by the chain of command.

We have a grossly inadequate NIS report and a board of inquiry report sitting with the military since May. The military should not be investigating itself in these matters.

Will the minister order an independent inquiry? What does he have to hide in not doing so?

[Afghanistan, September 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the government's handling of the allegations of sexual abuse of young boys by the Afghan national army on our Canadian Forces base is a national shame.

The narrow scope of the military's NIS report amounted to a whitewash and said that the chain of command did not know anything about it. However, we now know that this is not the case. Now there is corroboration that the military brass knew about this as far back as 2007.

Canadians deserve to know, how long has the minister had knowledge of this tolerance of sexual abuse in Afghanistan?