Kevin Sorenson

[Committees of the House, April 18th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development in support to the Minister of Industry of Canada's decision concerning RADARSAT-2.

[Liberal Party of Canada, April 11th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, whether it is leading the new NATO consensus on Afghanistan, defending our Arctic sovereignty, not letting foreign big polluting countries jeopardize our made in Canada climate change plans, or protecting Canada's national interest in strategic industries, Canadians can count on the Conservative government to defend our national interests at home and abroad.

Contrast this demonstrated leadership from our Prime Minister and the Conservative Party with the lack of leadership Canadians are seeing from the Liberal Party and its so-called leader. The Liberals have no policy. Just the other day the Liberals' deputy leader was contradicting his boss on what should be the most important priorities for Canadians.

The Liberals have no vision for our country. They have made over 33 reckless spending promises, which would bring the country into over $62.5 billion in debt and deficit. On top of that, they have proposed GST increases that would raise the GST up to 12%.

While the Liberals have no policy, no vision and no leadership, Canadians are happy to see them supporting our policy, our vision, our leader and our party, the Conservative Party of Canada.

[Business of Supply, April 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciated hearing what the member had to say, but I would like to clear something up a little bit.

No one on the government side of the House has forced the opposition to come forward with the motion today. This was a motion that the opposition used. This was a motion that the Liberal Party brought forward.

The government has been very clear that it would be open and transparent. We were clear back when we said we wanted to extend the mission that it would take parliamentary approval, that it would take a debate in the House and approval. We also said it was contingent on a number of things. It was contingent on securing another 1,000 troops, on securing much more resources, and those things have been achieved.

Let me say that the government has achieved things from which the former Liberal government pushed away, in which it did not want to become involved, so we have made steps forward in this process on the Afghanistan mission and now we are moving into a number of other new areas.

We are moving into the committee that would be responsible for looking at the mission in Afghanistan. We are always putting forward new ways of more clearly communicating what the government is doing. Why did the Liberal opposition party bring forward the motion when it knew the government would act on it?

[Business of Supply, April 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, before I answer, I want to welcome our new member to the foreign affairs committee, the member for Toronto Centre. I look forward to serving with him.

I think Afghanistan has moved beyond the war of armed terror. I think we are now looking at how we can help the ordinary Afghan, how the country of Afghanistan can be built and how the economy can be built.

Yes, terrorism is real and, yes, there are those from fundamental militant extremist groups who would do anything in their war against freedom, democracy, rule of law, justice and all those things that we value and take for granted here in this country. There are those who would do everything they could to drain the hopes of Afghans who want the same type of human rights. Now we need to look at ways of developing a country so that the dream can live.

[Business of Supply, April 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to what he viewed as being some kind of conflict, not all five points of the Canada Health Act are as easy to fulfill in Afghanistan as they are here. Accessibility is tough. I would say that about 80% of Afghans have access, and I would not say easy, but have access to Health care if they need it immediately. In a country where there is no infrastructure, it takes people longer to get to the place where health services are given. However, I do not think the difference is anything major that should be of concern to this House. We want to see a strong health care system in Afghanistan.

With regard to the refugees coming back, I have had the opportunity of speaking to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and he has talked, I think even in this House, quite extensively about the importance of building an economy.

Why are these millions of people coming back to Afghanistan? Again, because they have hope. It is not simply that they want to come back to live in Kabul or to live wherever they have always lived. They want to come back to be involved in the commerce and in the economy, to lead productive lives and to raise their families in a place where there is hope and they are now seeing hope. We could talk about what is happening in microfinancing.

When I was back in my constituency last week, we were talking at a town hall meeting about how commerce has grown in Afghanistan. It used to be that the average Afghan lived on less than a dollar a day. A few months ago, the economy doubled and they were living on two dollars a day. It is now close to three dollars a day. We are seeing hope. People are becoming involved in small businesses and now have a level of income to sustain their families.

[Business of Supply, April 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I think we are going to have to do something about the parliamentary secretary's smoking habits. I do know he has done long hours of hard work on this file.

It is indeed a pleasure to stand in the House of Commons and represent the riding of Crowfoot, but also to be able to speak about Canada's mission in Afghanistan. This is an issue that is sure to define our country's role in international affairs for years to come.

I have the privilege of serving as the chair of the foreign affairs and international development committee. Certainly there is a number of different areas where Canada is involved and has been over the years. The work that the Canadian armed forces, the Canadian government and the people of Canada have done in Afghanistan is going to be a defining moment and a real standard which other countries are going to have to take a look at and perhaps live up to.

This government welcomes the kind of debate that we are seeing here in the House of Commons today, the dialogue that is going on between all parties, because frank and open exchanges and discussion are key in shaping our future role in Afghanistan. It is important to bring various viewpoints to bear when we are making decisions as critical as what our country is making in regard to Afghanistan.

As often as we see and hear about the military aspect of our mission in the newspapers, on the radio and on television, the humanitarian and developmental assistance aspects of this mission are also critical success factors in Afghanistan.

As the hon. Minister of International Cooperation very eloquently stated during the debate on Motion No. 5, our efforts to bring hope and confidence back to Afghanistan rests in a large part on our ability to promote development and reconstruction in the country. Progress in these areas means better living standards for ordinary Afghans.

That is what this is about. This is not necessarily about just checking off certain benchmarks when we attain something. It is about how the ordinary Afghan lives, the standard of living for Afghans.

It means improved infrastructure. It means enhanced access to vital services such as health care and education. It means increased protection under the law. It means a greater respect for human rights. It means more employment prospects, a stronger economy. These are the things that make up the difference in the day to day living for the average Afghan.

There is no denying that our mission continues to be dangerous and challenging. There is no denying that we still have a long way to go. There is also no denying that we are seeing significant progress in many areas.

I want to touch briefly on some of the areas that have been brought forward to our committee and which I think Canadians really need to understand. What progress are we seeing in Afghanistan?

First of all, there is education. Close to six million children are now in school in Afghanistan. One-third of those students are girls. This is a dramatic increase over 2001 when there were only 700,000 children who attended school and every one of them was a boy. All of them were young men from Afghanistan, no girls.

In health care, tuberculosis deaths have been cut in half annually. Infant mortality rates have dropped by almost a quarter. These are lives saved.

We all notice and count the number of casualties that we see in Afghanistan. Very seldom do we ever take account or an inventory of the number of lives that are saved. Prior to 2001 and even up until a number of years ago there were high infant mortality rates.

We also see an access to health care that has soared to over 80%. Access is up from only 9% for the ordinary average Afghan just a few years ago.

In humanitarian assistance, more than five million refugees have returned to Afghanistan since 2002. Why are these people coming home? Because they have hope. They see that this mission is making a difference. More than 365,000 in 2007 had returned, with the assistance of the Canada supported United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

A number of days ago we celebrated a day when we called upon the world to get rid of landmines. In mine action nearly 1.3 billion square metres of land have been cleared, opening up fields and land for productive purposes such as farming and other commerce.

In economic development, per capita income doubled between 2003 and 2006. More than 418,000 people, the majority of them women, are accessing small loans and savings services to help rebuild their lives and reduce the vulnerability of their economic stresses.

In community development we have seen over 20,000 elected councils. They have been put in place across the country to oversee community development projects in areas such as agriculture, infrastructure renewal and access to drinking water. More than 18,000 such projects have been completed to date. Their impact on the country's reconstruction cannot be overstated.

These are but a few examples of genuine progress in Afghanistan.

I cannot stress enough what an important difference we are making in the lives of Afghans. This is not to say that the situation is perfect. I think every party here and most Canadians understand that we have not reached any end goal yet. We continue to face a daunting set of challenges in the face of such diverse and complex issues.

On poverty, we are still addressing it. There are extremely low literacy rates. When we start an education system from square one it takes time to build. There is a desperate lack of infrastructure. Institutions have been debilitated by war and misrule. The continued insurgency is still a huge concern not just for our military, but for all people who understand the situation and the fact that this insurgency still comes. There is widespread corruption, the illegal drug trade, a tradition of warlord rule, and the condition of women and girls. I underline that one again because we have already spoken of it. Still, part of the culture, perhaps part of the tradition of that country under the Taliban rule has been one--and diminishing is not even the right word--of ignoring completely the human rights especially for women and girls.

All these factors make Afghanistan one of the most challenging operating environments in the world. It is challenging for us as a government and challenging for us as a country. It is challenging for the Afghan government, a new government trying to develop a certain level of democracy. Certainly it is challenging even for our allies and partners. They are realizing that it is a massive undertaking as well.

Working in such an environment is a gruelling task, but we are learning something new every day. We are applying new knowledge from lessons learned as we constantly explore ways to improve our effectiveness.

I do not think this government has ever come to this place and said that this is the only way to attack poverty and the issue of security. We have never done that. We have learned from lessons. This is a progression even as we continue in many of these ways. However, we are moving forward.

That said, if some of the progress that I mentioned earlier is any indication, there are many reasons to hope for a brighter future. There are many reasons to believe that if we stay the course, if we continue to apply lessons learned, if we continue to look at innovative ways, we will see positive changes in Afghanistan.

That is why this government is pleased that the House supported our motion to extend the mission beyond 2009. It is why we are pleased that the House continues to be engaged in helping to shape the future and the way forward in the years ahead.

Canada is making an important contribution to the mission. We are proud of the accomplishments of our men and women who help Afghans rebuild their country after years of war.

The Prime Minister in the House has been very clear. Our military mission ends in 2011. As the Prime Minister said in Bucharest, “We are serious about not just staying but also leaving. When I say leaving, I mean accomplishing our objectives, which is training the Afghan forces so they can take responsibility for their own security”.

Much work remains to be done, to build a nation and a society that is self-sufficient, economically stable and able to provide its own prosperity.

[Business of Supply, April 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to have an opportunity to give a speech, but I would like to commend my colleague from Edmonton Centre on the remarkable work he is doing in his job as a parliamentary secretary.

The parliamentary secretary has had a long career in the armed forces. He has been to Afghanistan, not only as committee travel, but he also spent Christmas with the troops in Afghanistan. The member has been to Afghanistan a number of different times. Perhaps he could tell us about some very clear indicators that he has seen while he has been in Afghanistan of the change, of the transition, of the way that people are viewing this mission from the Afghans' perspective.

[International Mine Action Day, April 4th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate our Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of National Defence for a job well done at the NATO summit this week.

Canadians are also very proud of our government's international leadership in helping to clear landmines.

Today is International Mine Action Day. More than 80 countries around the world are still affected by landmines killing and injuring innocent children at play and farmers as they work daily.

Afghanistan continues to be one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Canada is the world's leader in deactivating and destroying landmines in Afghanistan. Working alongside the Afghan government and the United Nations Mine Action Service, Canada is making a big difference in the lives of the people of Afghanistan. This is yet another example of how Canadians are helping to rebuild Afghanistan.

With our nation's ongoing commitment to the international community, we will continue to see positive change. Our Conservative government is getting things done for Canadians and the international community.

[Government Policies, March 11th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are proud of our Conservative government under the leadership of our Prime Minister.

Since 2006 we have delivered on many of the promises we made. The list of achievements is long.

The GST has been lowered to 5%. We have cut taxes by close to $200 billion. We have paid down $37 billion on the national debt.

Our national child care program provides $100 a month for every child under six.

We got Bill C-2, the tackling violent crime act, passed into law to help keep Canadians safe from dangerous criminals.

We have put an end to 13 years of neglect and foot-dragging by standing up for Canadian farmers.

We are pushing forward on Senate reform, and the Prime Minister appointed the Hon. Bert Brown to the Senate because Albertans elected him as their senator in waiting.

We have passed three balanced budgets.

Our government, under the leadership of our Prime Minister, is getting the job done for Canadians.

I would also like to thank the Liberals for showing their confidence in our government last night and for their support of our environmental initiatives.

[Business of Supply, March 10th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke a little bit about rotation. This was one of the areas in the whole debate leading up to today's motion that has come into some question. A number of opposition parties spoke about the concept of being able to rotate other countries in and other countries out.

The question came before the foreign affairs committee when retired General Lewis MacKenzie was there. He stated that he does not believe in that type of rotation. Rotation speaks of a nation rotating its own soldiers in and out of a country. The concept of rotating another country in ends up eroding a lot of the very positive work that the one country's military has done.

I did note that he spoke a little bit about other countries rotating. The general also stated that when there are new countries moving in, many times it is almost like starting at square one and for this reason we have allotted different areas to different countries.

I think Mr. Manley in his report came up with that idea as well because he stated that we must supplement what is already there, not rotate all of Canada out and put another country in.

Could the member expand on what his ideas about rotation would look like?