James Bezan

[National Defence, November 20th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are running government like a travelling circus.

Take the F-35 procurement, for example. Justin Trudeau said that he would never buy the F-35s, but then the Liberals ordered the F-35s later. Now the Prime Minister has started another review. The Minister of National Defence said that the review would be done by the end of last summer, but the Secretary of State for Defence Procurement says there is no rush. Meanwhile, nobody can figure out what the Minister of Industry is actually doing.

Once and for all, when will this unnecessary review finally end? Who in the government is actually in charge of buying fighter jets?

[Holodomor, November 20th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, on the fourth Saturday of every November, Canadians join Ukrainians around the world to remember the Soviet-forced famine and genocide of 1932-33 called the Holodomor.

Joseph Stalin's Communist regime deliberately killed millions of people in Ukraine for being Ukrainian. Stalin wanted to exterminate their language, culture, religion and identity. After he eliminated the clergy, political leaders, academics and farmers, he then weaponized food. To grasp the scale of this genocide in Ukraine, we can imagine stripping bare every grocery store, home, farm, fridge and cupboard across western Canada today and then watching every man, woman and child slowly starve to death. That is the horror millions of Ukrainians endured.

Stalin and his Soviet thugs failed to Russify Ukraine then, and Vladimir Putin and his Russian barbarians will fail in his Russification of Ukraine today. This week, as we remember the victims of the Holodomor, we stand with those fighting for Ukraine's very survival.

May their memories be eternal. Vichnaya pamyat.

[Export and Import Permits Act, November 19th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that I will not have more time to discuss Bill C-233, the amendments being proposed by the NDP to the Export and Import Permits Act.

The intent is laudable in wanting to make sure that Canadian-made weapons and components are not being used in weapons by our adversaries, like terrorist organizations. Iran was using components in the Shahed drones that were bombing Israel, and they have been sold to Russia and are being used against the great people of Ukraine. We want to make sure that that does not happen and that we hold companies to account when they have sold components and weapons to other suppliers and they have ended up in the hands of our adversaries.

However, we know by what is being proposed in Bill C-233 that we would have an added layer of bureaucracy that would slow down the sale of parts, weapons, platforms and technology to our allies and partners. One thing that is going to happen with this bill is it would require that no country gets an exemption. Therefore, none of our NATO allies, none of our Five Eyes partners and none of our friends in the Middle East or Ukraine would be able to go to our suppliers and Canadian businesses to buy the parts and weapons systems they need to defend their sovereign territory. We want to make sure that does not interfere with the overall operations of our defence industry and our relationships with our allies.

I have to stress that, when we look at this, we have to remember, as Canadians, that our sovereignty is also threatened by this. Part of our sovereign capacity and capability is having a strong defence industry. When we have a defence industry that exports over $7 billion of the $9.6 billion it produces on an annual basis, and 63% of that goes to the United States, we have to protect that to ensure that those industries survive.

I will carry on this conversation the next time we rise on Bill C-233.

[Export and Import Permits Act, November 19th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed with this private member's bill. Essentially, what the member is trying to do is chase the defence industry right out of Canada and into the hands of Donald Trump.

Right now, the defence industry employs thousands of people right across this country. She talked about Saudi Arabia and the LAVs that are being built in London, Ontario, a riding that used to be held by an NDP member, Lindsay Mathyssen. Of course, she is no longer here because of the NDP's lack of support for the labour sector. As we know, creating these thousands of jobs and having these companies here actually support Canada's sovereign capabilities to build weapons for ourselves. Those industries are not sustainable with just Canadian orders.

Why is she chasing jobs out of Canada and into the arms of Donald Trump?

[Petitions, November 17th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present a petition today on behalf of over 260 Canadians who are petitioning the Government of Canada to raise the alarm bells on the continued activity of the Communist Party in China as they go after Falun Gong practitioners, including the grotesque and illegal organ harvesting and arbitrary detention of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

As we know, Falun Gong practitioners continue to be surveilled and harassed here in Canada, including the Shen Yun dance squad, which is in North America. Its members perform classical Chinese dance, a beautiful ballet. They have been targeted with bomb threats and intimidation by operatives of the People's Republic of China.

As we know, G7 leaders have denounced transnational repression and have denounced the ongoing activity of the Chinese regime in foreign interference.

The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to call on China to end the Falun Gong persecution and execution, as well as the illegal organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China, and to hold those people to account through increased sanctions and travel bans, so we can ensure that Falun Gong can practise safely in Canada and around the world.

[The Budget, November 6th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I found the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister's comments about agriculture to be extremely rich, especially when, during debate today, he has risen a couple of times to talk about China.

The tariffs we have right now on canola, which is produced in my riding, and hogs, which are produced in my riding, are directly impacting family members, never mind the greater constituency that I represent in Manitoba. All of those tariffs are because of the actions of the Liberal government. The admonishment that Trudeau gave when he was prime minister to the President of China, Xi Jinping, caused the rift we have right now in Canada-China relations, and the EV tariffs the Liberals put in place are why we have the extra retaliatory tariffs against Canada.

The Liberals are to blame for it. Why are they not fixing it?

[Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act, October 23rd, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, I want to drill down on my colleague's comments on the Canadian Coast Guard. In Bill C-12, part 4 talks about making the Canadian Coast Guard the responsibility of another minister, but it never defines the minister as being the Minister of National Defence. The member referred to it as an “accounting trick” and talked about how the Canadian Coast Guard does not have any armaments, weapons systems or surveillance equipment to do the job defined under Bill C-12, which is surveillance and security patrols.

In the Oceans Act, which part 4 would amend, there is still a responsibility to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and to the Minister of Transportation. Does the member believe that having divided authorities will undermine the Coast Guard's ability to work as part of our security apparatus?

[National Defence, October 22nd, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the minister let 100,000 Canadians slip through his fingers.

The Auditor General also reported yesterday that the situation gets worse for our troops after they enlist. She said military housing is in “the kind of conditions you and I wouldn't want to live in” and that we should not expect our troops to live in either. The national defence committee came to the same conclusions in the last Parliament. Nothing has changed, and the report confirmed that the wait-list for military housing is growing to over 7,000.

How can the defence minister sleep at night, knowing our troops are living rough, and all he can do is reannounce old Liberal promises for 600 new housing units? Our troops need 7,000, now.

[National Defence, October 22nd, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General concluded that the Canadian Armed Forces did not recruit and train the number of members it needs to meet operational requirements. She further said that our forces will struggle to respond to threats, emergencies and conflicts and to accomplish their missions. The report also revealed that on this trajectory, 13% of occupations are at risk of never being fully slated, and another 69% will not get there for over 10 years.

Our adversaries are not waiting for Canada to get our house in order. How does the defence minister expect our Armed Forces to meet our international obligations and protect Canada, without the personnel?

[Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act, October 20th, 2025]

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt in my mind that the Liberals are strictly making this change to the Oceans Act in Bill C-12 to make sure they have the ability to declare that they have now given the security and border control mandate to the Coast Guard, which should be counted toward the 2% and now the 5%. They will not fool anyone at NATO with this trickery, as my colleague said. At the end of the day, according to their own definition, they have to have the ability to provide military tactical capabilities, which the Coast Guard currently does not have.