House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2008, with 34% of the vote.
National Defence October 13th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, all ammunition is certified and guaranteed and is stored in a safe place in all our subs.
There is no way that any submariner would go to sea in a situation that was unsafe with respect to the storage of their ammunition. All ammunition in all our subs is stored in a very secure way. All of those storage capabilities are certified before the ships go to sea.
National Defence October 13th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the member is incorrect in saying that the sub program has been cancelled. It has not been cancelled at all.
What we are doing is the responsible thing. We are allowing the navy to do its job and we are allowing the board of inquiry to do its job and get to the answers that we all require and are waiting for.
I would ask the members of the opposition to have patience and let the professionals do their job so we can get the answers that we are all waiting for.
National Defence October 13th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote the head of the navy who is a submariner himself. He said that the ships were qualified and fully seaworthy to go out and that they perform a very important function.
On the costs that the member mentioned, $85 million have gone into the sub program over and beyond what we have already put in. That is the investment into these subs that will do an excellent job and have done an excellent job for our navy and for our country.
National Defence October 13th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, on the issue of the subs, $85 million extra was put into the subs over and beyond the purchase price.
However, on the member's premise, let us talk about the facts. We put in $7 billion to purchase some important requirements: the search and rescue helicopters, the new gun systems and the new fixed wing search and rescue planes. Those are requirements that our military needs. Those are commitments the government has made and they will be fulfilled.
National Defence October 13th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the government purchased these subs which are excellent submarines. They met the operational demands and requirements of our navy and our country. I am pleased to say that these subs provide our navy and our military with superb capabilities that we have to engage in for the sovereignty of our nation.
National Defence October 12th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, our navy has full confidence in the security and capabilities of our subs. Having said that, as I said earlier in my responses, there will be an important announcement taking place later this afternoon with respect to what the subs will do in the near future.
National Defence October 12th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, when a tragedy occurs such as that which we saw last week, an inquiry takes place within the Canadian Forces by the experts who have that capability. I can assure the member that what will happen is the inquiry will take place, answers will happen, recommendations will come forward, and subject to issues of privacy and national and international security, those recommendations and findings will be made public.
National Defence October 12th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I will ask the minister about the question that the other member posed a while ago.
Let me reiterate something. The government is committed to ensuring that members of the Canadian Forces have the equipment and the tools they need to do their job.
The opposition should remember that nobody in our armed forces will put our men and women of the armed forces in harm's way. Nobody will do that. I hope the member understands that they will not be put into situations where their lives are at risk.
National Defence October 12th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I do not have any information on the issue the member has spoken about but I will certainly look into the matter.
What I can say with respect to the other submarines is that they are in port right now and an important announcement will take place later this afternoon concerning where they will go from there.
National Defence October 12th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the responsible thing to do is to allow the professionals to do their jobs. The professionals are those on the inquiry who will get to the bottom of this and who will get the answers that all of us in the House want, particularly the widow of Lieutenant Saunders and the men on the Chicoutimi . We owe them the answers and the answers they will get.