James Bezan

[Search and Rescue, April 4th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians can be proud that this government has ensured that we have a robust search and rescue system that is always standing on guard and ready to help individuals in need of life-saving assistance.

Since 2006, our government has increased investments into the Canadian Armed Forces by over 27%. The Chief of the Defence Staff said in the same report that the Canadian Armed Forces are currently resourced and able to deliver on their assigned tasks within the federal search and rescue mandate.

That being said, search and rescue remains a top priority for this government. We are always exploring ways to improve our capabilities and equipment to provide the best possible search and rescue services to Canadians in times of need.

[Iran, April 4th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, despite President Rouhani's charm offensive, the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to violate human rights and persecute political prisoners at an accelerated rate. Over 50 executions were reported in the first month of 2014. In 2013, 660 prisoners were executed in Iran, with 430 of them put to death after the June 14 election charade, often in horrific public group executions to intensify the atmosphere of terror throughout Iran.

Additionally, there are recent reports that Iraq is in negotiations with Iran to extradite the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, who are Iranian refugees. The MEK would become political prisoners if deported to Iran to face torture and execution by Iran's clerical regime.

Finally, Ms. Reyhaneh Jabbari is at risk of imminent execution for defending herself and killing an attacker who was attempting to rape her. The regime tortured her until she confessed to the murder. This is just another example of Iran's flagrant abuse of human rights.

We must not forget the daily atrocities going on inside Iran. The Iranian people deserve the dignity, respect, and freedom they have been denied for far too long.

[National Defence, April 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, when we were at committee earlier today, the minister was very clear that the letter was supposed to go out to inform family members of fallen soldiers that there was going to be a commemoration day and to save the date, May 9, to attend. As he said, it was a premature and incorrect letter and contained false information, and this government's position is that expenses will be covered and people will be notified as soon as the event plans have been finalized.

Our government continues to be proud to commemorate the huge sacrifices made in Afghanistan by our brave men and women in uniform.

[National Defence, April 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Colonel Blais' letter was premature, incorrect, and containing false information, as event plans have still not been finalized. The government's position is that expenses will be covered.

Our government is proud to commemorate our military mission in Afghanistan on May 9 with a national day of honour. I encourage all Canadians to participate. This day will give Canadians an opportunity to reflect on the courage and sacrifices made by our brave men and women.

[Petitions, April 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls upon Parliament and the House to support Bill C-560, to require equal shared parenting to be treated as a rebuttable presumption of custody decisions, except in cases of neglect and abuse.

[Petitions, April 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to table today.

The first is on behalf of citizens who want to recognize the inherent rights of farmers, derived from thousands of years of customs and traditions, to use, save, select, and exchange all the seeds they produce.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that you review the Hansard transcript of what the member was just saying. I believe she used unparliamentary language, the f-word.

The f-bomb in French and English both start with f, and they both kind of translate to the same meaning. I do not believe that is parliamentary language that we should be adopting here. She may admire the Liberal leader for dropping the f-bomb this weekend at a charity event, but we do not need to start emulating that type of language in the chamber.

What is kind of laughable is that this is all the NDP has to talk about today. As the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister has already said today, there are only eight occasions in the last eight years when private individuals have accompanied the Prime Minister on the Challenger. In each and every case, those individuals have paid commercial fare to accompany the Prime Minister to go to an event.

The opposition has agreed that the Prime Minister has to travel by government plane. That is the only way that is safe and secure. Often when he is travelling on personal business or partisan business, he will be accompanied by family members or close personal friends. Those people who accompany him also pay their way. Whether they are flying on commercial flights or on the Challenger, they are paying their way according to commercial rates. The taxpayers have been refunded. This whole debate is just ridiculous.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I think that is a little rich coming from the other side. When the Prime Minister is travelling, and if he is going to a partisan event, he does reimburse the Government of Canada based upon a commercial equivalent flight. He sometimes travels with larger groups, and people with those types of events will also reimburse the government.

However, it is pretty rich for NDP members to suggest that there should be this clean separation, which I agree with. I agree there should be a clean separation between what we do as parliamentarians, as government officials, and what we do from a partisan standpoint.

I want that member to stand in his place and say that it is inappropriate to use taxpayer funds for setting up regional political operative offices in Saskatoon and Montreal; that it is completely unreasonable and unwarranted to use government resources to fund householders and ten percenters to go into ridings that are having byelections, in contradiction, not only to the rules of the House, but of Elections Canada.

I want him to also talk about how his leader has to now appear before the procedure and House affairs committee to explain the actions of the NDP on the misappropriation of taxpayer money.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I want to reflect on the point of order that was raised by the NDP House leader just a few minutes ago, that we want to make sure that the debate on this motion is relevant. What the member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca is saying has absolutely nothing at all to do with the motion at hand.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend from Etobicoke Centre for his words and support for the Canadian Armed Forces and his point that these assets are used by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Today's debate is about the NDP members trying to turn the channel and distract from the attention they are getting because their leader will have to appear before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs for the illegal use of dollars being funnelled into political operations in Montreal and Saskatchewan. We also know that they use House resources to interfere in byelections in Montreal.

Would my friend from Etobicoke Centre want to comment on how our government, since coming into office, has really reduced the use of government aircraft?The Challengers in 2002-03, for example, had over 2,000 hours of logged time flying around ministers, the Prime Minister, and the Governor General. In 2011-12, the latest data I have show that the Challengers were used for only 574 hours. In addition to that, we actually reduced the travel costs of all ministers using commercial and government aircraft by over 23%.