James Bezan

[National Defence, October 26th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister just said a moment ago that he did not trust senior members of the Canadian Forces to be open and transparent, and give briefings on the mission in Iraq. This is ridiculous, and he should stand in his place and apologize.

Despite the Liberals' claim that Canada's training of the peshmerga is ongoing, generals have confirmed that the operations have shifted away from training.

Our contribution to the battle to retake Mosul was supposed to include a field hospital, but the Liberals could not get it done.

Will the Minister of National Defence take responsibility, lift the curtain of secrecy, and confirm to the House that he has sent our troops to the front line without proper medical support?

[National Defence, October 25th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, images of Canadian troops operating Iraqi vehicles, sighting targets with sniper rifles, and painting targets near Mosul have emerged on social media. One source said that Canadian soldiers are still moving on the front line.

When the Liberals were in opposition, they demanded more transparency but have now ended briefings on what our troops are doing in the battle for Mosul. This is blatant hypocrisy. Why should Canadians have to learn on Twitter what our troops are doing to defeat ISIS, rather than from the government?

[Canada Pension Plan, October 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to ask questions of the government today on CPP changes, something that is not at all evidence based. It is strictly a public policy to garner votes.

Why have the Liberals not been more up front with Canadians? It is going to be 40 years until the entire contributions of this change to CPP is realized by seniors. It will not even kick in until 2025, so today's seniors will not benefit from any of these changes. They are being sold this bill of goods by the Liberals without any opportunity to benefit from CPP enhancements.

The main issue that Conservatives have with the bill is the way it would impact small and medium-sized enterprises. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has said that this would force more and more businesses to make a decision as to whether they hire new people, maintain what they have, or lay off people to deal with the increased contributions they would have to make in this whole process.

I would ask the member to speak to how this would hurt small business and employment in a situation where the economy is stagnant under the current government. There needs to be an increase in job opportunities. First, will Liberals listen to small business and change the way they are going to go about getting employer contributions for the CPP?

Second, would they reinstate other savings mechanisms that were in place, like the tax-free savings account? The tax-free savings account limit was $10,000, helping Canadians save money for their retirement, along with their RRSPs. It was well embraced by Canadians, especially seniors. Will they bring that back up to $10,000 rather than reducing it to $5,500?

[Terrorism, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, today we remember and honour the lives of two members of the Canadian Armed Forces: Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, who was murdered in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu on October 20, 2014, and Corporal Nathan Cirillo, who was gunned down two days later in Ottawa while guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

These soldiers were targeted simply because they were wearing their uniforms. Many of us in this chamber were present when that terrorist threat entered this building. We are forever grateful for the quick and courageous response by the Parliamentary Security officers, RCMP, and Ottawa City Police.

When human instinct is to flee, these officers heroically ran toward danger. Less than 24 hours after the attack, my colleagues and I returned to Parliament to perform our duties to represent Canadians. Our determination in the work we do was only strengthened that day. So too is the resolve of the Canadian Armed Forces in their mission to defeat the evils of terror.

Terrorism will not stop the work of our troops, it will not shake our democratic institutions, nor will it intimidate us as Canadians.

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it was very disheartening to see the government refuse to recognize this first as a genocide. We brought that motion forward on June 9. A couple of days later we had the vote on it and the Liberals voted against it. June 15 was when the report came out from the UN that ISIS was committing genocide against the Yazidi people.

It is disheartening that the Liberals love to talk like they are out there supporting the responsibility to protect, they are out there addressing these humanitarian crises, and they like to denounce historical genocides, but at the same time, we have a genocide before us today that they can do something about and they decide to sit on their hands instead. To me, that is deplorable.

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the question really is for the government and for my friend from Winnipeg North. Why is the government not acting upon the United Nations recommendations 210, 212, and 213 on actually bringing in and accelerating the protection of Yazidi girls and women?

This has been a recommendation since June, yet we still see foot-dragging by the government. This is the chance for the Liberals to actually stand up for a major group that has been targeted and essentially almost eliminated and exterminated by ISIS, but instead they are discriminating against them. I urge my colleague to get behind the motion and ask the government to implement the recommendations by the United Nations, which they love very dearly, and accelerate the immigration and protection of these refugees.

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Sarnia—Lambton. It is indeed an honour to speak to this motion brought forward by my friend from Calgary Nose Hill and amended by my colleague from Calgary Shepard.

It is unfortunate that we have to have this debate today, knowing that so many Canadians understand the atrocities that have been committed against the Yazidi people. When we look at what happened two years ago in Sinjar and Iraq, ISIS targeted the Yazidi community, and carried out one of the most brutal genocides that have been witnessed in the world's recent history.

We saw men executed at gunpoint. We saw children crucified by ISIS. We saw Yazidi people being trapped on Mount Sinjar. Many perished from dehydration. The elderly collapsed and died, and ultimately, after the execution of men over the age of 10, the younger boys were moved into terrorist training and were reprogrammed. They were brainwashed and turned into suicide bombers and terrorists. The women and girls were sold into sexual slavery. Those who refused to convert, those girls and women who refused to be sexual slaves were burned alive. These atrocities were so despicable that the world pronounced them as genocide.

I would like to remind the House that it was only in June that we had before the chamber a debate on a motion that the official opposition brought forward to recognize the atrocities being committed by ISIS against the Yazidis as genocide. The government, the Liberal Party, voted against it. Only a couple of days later, the UN declared it a genocide. Only then, rather than leading, the Liberals decided to follow the United Nations, when the rest of the world, the British House of Commons, Secretary of State John Kerry in the United States, had already boldly proclaimed it as genocide, as did our former Conservative government.

The sad part in all of this is that we are debating a motion today to look at bringing more Yazidi refugees into Canada. We have a government that is very proud of its record of bringing in, or will bring in, 25,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq. The sad part of this is that out of the thousands of refugees that have come to Canada for asylum, only nine of them are Yazidi.

That, in my opinion, is despicable, and I am certain it has to be an embarrassment for the government. I really do have to raise this question, why has the government not brought in more of these poor women and girls who are in refugee camps already in the region, who have been identified by the United Nations refugee organization? Is the government discriminating against the Yazidi people? That has to be asked.

We have people who have been subjected to treatment worse than livestock by ISIS, and largely abandoned by some of the people in the region of northern Iraq.

They deserve asylum. They deserve a place to call home. I know for a fact that organizations across Canada are prepared to privately sponsor them. I know that the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba wants to sponsor these poor Yazidi girls and women, and get them to a safe and secure environment that we offer here in Canada.

We are giving, through the amendment, the government 120 days to act upon the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria report entitled “They Came to Destroy: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis”, and implementing articles in sections 210, 212, and 213 of the report.

As my colleague from Calgary Nose Hill, the immigration critic for the official opposition, has already said in a written letter to the Minister of Immigration that he could use section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to expedite the asylum seekers in the Yazidi community who are currently in the queue to come here.

As has already been pointed out, Britain, Germany, Australia, and other countries have been able to bring in hundreds of these girls and women, who have been able to escape the sexual slavery, who have been able to get away from ISIS, as often Jihadists and militants hang on to them as comfort wives. This is something we have not seen since World War II when it was practised by the Japanese.

I am glad we have had the opportunity to at least address this issue in the House today. I do not think most Canadians realize that the government, in its efforts to bring in all of the refugees who have been displaced and targeted by ISIS, had not included the Yazidis in its efforts. I know that when we were in government, it was our intention to go after the ethnic and religious minorities who were the primary targets of the atrocities being committed by ISIS itself.

If we are going to ultimately protect people, if the government believes in its responsibility to protect, then, one, we have to have that military force there; two, we have to provide the humanitarian aid and assistance, which we are going to need right now as the battle for Mosul evolves and 1.5 million civilians are at risk inside the city, as 30,000 coalition troops charge the city to root out and destroy ISIS and its roughly 5,000 fighters in the city.

We have to support the surrounding nations that have those refugee camps, and are providing humanitarian assistance, schools, water, hospital services, medicine, but what about the responsibility to protect those who cannot protect themselves? What about the responsibility to bring in those who have been subjected to a genocide?

I have talked many times in this House about genocide, and Raphael Lemkin, the wordsmith and author of the UN Genocide Convention back in 1948. He developed it. He spoke of how different state players and different organizations and groups would target minorities to eliminate them. The UN, just this June, agreed again that what has happened to the Yazidi people, specifically, was a genocide.

If there was ever a time for the government to show compassion, if there was ever a time for the government to use its powers under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to expedite the movement of these poor girls and women away from danger and into the peace and security that we offer here in Canada, this is the time.

We are asking the government to do it within the next 120 days, to follow-through on the UN report and recommendations, and to support this motion as it stands before the House.

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to raise a point of order on relevance. As we have been listening to the parliamentary secretary for defence talk about the defence efforts being made by the government in Iraq, not yet has he mentioned the refugee crisis, the Yazidis, or the genocide that has occurred. I ask that he get on point.

[National Defence, October 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the battle for Mosul is under way, but we have no idea what our Canadian troops are doing. Military commanders have confirmed that the mission has become much more dangerous, but they were muzzled from saying anything because of the Liberals' cone of silence.

The Minister of Transport once stated, “It is important for us to get as much information...on what possibly can happen and how this mission can evolve” in Iraq.

Does the defence minister find it hypocritical that the Liberals used to demand transparency on the fight against ISIS, but now are hiding behind a curtain of secrecy?

[National Defence, October 18th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, from the defence policy review consultations, it became very clear that Canadians want the minister to depoliticize the entire military procurement process, yet the Liberals campaigned specifically on excluding one company from the replacement of Canada's CF-18s.

Will the minister reverse the Prime Minister's campaign promise that disallowed the F-35 from consideration and allow Lockheed Martin to compete in a fair competition? Will the minister remove all political interference from all defence procurement projects?