John McCallum

[National Defence, January 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, it has been suggested that if our soldiers were to wear the dress of the hon. member over there they would be very well identified.

[Iraq, January 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, my goodness, talk about out of context. I would have thought the hon. member would remember I said that for a hypothetical Canadian contribution to a hypothetical war, it would be very difficult to know in that doubly hypothetical situation what the rules of engagement would be.

[National Defence, January 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to the hon. member, there is no one who has more respect for the brave men and women of the Canadian Forces than the people on this side of the House. With all due respect to the hon. member, what I said is true. There have been substantial increases in the salaries and quality of life of our military. That is a fact.

[National Defence, January 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I think the whole House should congratulate my predecessor for making quality of life his top priority over five years. As a consequence, the Canadian Forces receive substantially higher wages, a substantially higher income for areas where the price of housing is much higher, and substantially improved health care.

We still have work to do but a huge amount of progress has been made.

[Iraq, January 28th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, that question is triply hypothetical. There may be no war. If there is a war, there may be no Canadian participation. Who knows what the rules of engagement might be for a hypothetical Canadian contribution to a hypothetical war?

[Question No. 78, January 27th, 2003]

Fisheries and Oceans is the lead government agency with respect to oil spills in Canadian waters. In the event of a major oil spill, the commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard would coordinate and implement the Government of Canada’s response. Although National Defence is not the lead department, the Canadian Forces could provide personnel and logistics assistance, if requested.

Canadian naval vessels are capable of dealing with minor oil spills resulting from their own operations. A more robust capability also exists in Halifax and Esquimalt naval harbours for self-generated in-port incidents. However, the Canadian Forces are not mandated or equipped to deal with a major environmental event similar to the oil spill off the coast of Spain.

[National Defence, December 13th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, as was pointed out by my hon. colleague from Hull—Aylmer yesterday, the member across seems to show little respect for the use of the French language in her householder, let alone for Canada's basic linguistic duality.

I would like to answer in French. The problem is that since September 11, there has been a significant increase in the number of people who need first-responder training in the event of terrorist attacks. The problem in Arnprior is that there is not enough space. It would cost $20 million—

[National Security, December 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is true that I said yesterday that I was not in favour of this argument about slippery slopes when we indeed control the slope.

As for parliamentary participation, the House defence committee did recommend we consult with the Americans on this project some time ago. We did so. I spoke to the committee on November 27 on the matter and said that negotiations were near complete. Not one opposition member asked a single question, and so we have done it.

[National Defence, December 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is true that we have important differences with the United States over such things as landmines and the International Criminal Court. This is obvious. We have said this many times, but this agreement today has nothing to do with that. Indeed, the hon. member may have forgotten, but as it says right here in my briefing notes, I recently discussed planning for this agreement when I appeared before the committee of which he is a member on November 27.

[National Defence, December 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, we did speak to parliamentary committees. Parliamentary committees have produced reports recommending, some of them, to go even further than we have gone today in terms of Canada-U.S. military cooperation.

I would just add that this is a great deal. It is in the historical tradition of when we joined with the United States to defend the continent against Nazi Germany 60 years ago. Against the Soviet Union, we created Norad more than 40 years ago. Today I am very proud to say that faced with a third external threat, terrorism, we have joined together with the United States to once again defend this continent.