Laurie Hawn

[Afghanistan, February 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, at the risk of repeating myself, we worked very hard in the last four months to make specific changes in terms of the facility, the infrastructure, the training given to the Afghan national police and the judicial system, and also the guard training program. There are more visits to the Afghan prisons by Canadian officials.

The Canadian Forces take all of their obligations very seriously. We rely on the forces to exercise judgment and I think we have put our reliance in good hands. Canadian Forces members are doing a great job and we should thank them for that.

[Afghanistan, February 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that the Canadian Forces take all their obligations very seriously. The forces evaluate them on a case by case basis because they do take this so seriously.

They want to make sure that each Taliban prisoner is treated in accordance with the obligations, in accordance with the rule of law, in accordance with the procedures and the agreement that we have in place with the Afghan authorities, and in accordance with all the improvements that we have made recently in the system, which will make the system work a lot better. The hon. member should be happy with that.

[Afghanistan, February 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, as I said previously, for the last four months or so since November, we have been working hard with the Afghans in this area. We have put over a million dollars into improvements for the prisons. We have been training Afghan guards and the Afghan national police force. We have had more visits by Canadian representatives over there.

We are continuing to work with our Afghan allies to ensure that the system works as it has been doing more recently. We will continue to do that.

[Afghanistan, February 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that the military has announced in theatre this morning that an operational decision has been made to resume the transfer of Taliban prisoners. The transfer agreement we have with the Afghan government remains in place and it is working. The decision to transfer prisoners remains an operational matter made by the military commanders on a case by case basis in the field.

Since last November, well over $1 million has been spent improving conditions in the prisons that hold Canadian transferred prisoners. Guards and police have received training. Canadian officials have increased their monitoring visits to the prisoners. The Canadian Forces are confident these changes have addressed the issues at hand and they will continue to monitor the situation.

[Afghanistan, February 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague that the NATO question is valid and should be debated, but it is probably beyond the scope of the debate in the House.

I would point out a couple of things. The member is right about the load being carried by mostly four countries. However, other countries are involved as well, and there should be more. Romania, Estonia, Australia, Denmark and soon to be added Poland are also contributing to the combat mission. Certainly more needs to be done.

Could my hon. colleague comment on the leadership role that Canada plays in operations such as this, which in my view are much greater from a leadership perspective than simply 2,500 divided by approximately 50,000 troops?

[Afghanistan, February 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague had some good points and some good questions. I have a couple of comments and questions.

First, if we do not know why we are there, then why in 2004 did the Liberals send us there in the first place, with no discussion in the House? It seems like a reasonable question.

I point out a fact that he has used very disingenuously, and it has been used very disingenuously by other people in the House. He said that we spent $1 in development aid for every $12 in military. A unit, however we want to measure that, of aid cost is an awful lot less than a unit of military assistance.

The other point he misses, and people continually miss it, is the fact that within the $12 of military expenditures are Canadian soldiers who actually do the development. They are out there digging wells, operating clinics, having councils, doing the construction work and doing the job. There is a lot more in that $12 than just military. I think the hon. member knows that and he should admit it. Some people down the road will never admit that, but it is for other reasons.

We have talked about doing more than military. We have talked about developing. The previous speaker talked about getting rid of corruption. All of those things are very important. Could the hon. member comment on the work of the Strategic Advisory Team specifically in that area? What does he think of the work that has been done and how we might expand it?

[Afghanistan, February 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I want to point out one of the comments my hon. colleague made. He said that Afghanistan rated 173 out of 178 on the human development indicators as of 2004. Has he completely disregarded all of the progress made in the past four years, all of which has been well published?

The Bloc continually ignores that progress, as do members of the NDP. The sky is falling as far as they are concerned. Has the member completely ignored all of the progress that has happened in the past four years?

[Afghanistan, February 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I must say that the hon. member and the rest of the Liberal Party might be in danger of breaking their arms patting themselves on the back for forcing us to do things that in fact we have been doing pretty much all along. However, we are pleased to find common ground with the Liberals on this issue because it is important to Canadians and, frankly, the rest of the world.

Under the previous Liberal government's leadership of the mission, which was not just a military mission, contrary to what others have said, and this government's leadership of the mission, which is not just a military mission, contrary to what others have said, a lot of other work is going on. I would like my hon. friend's comments on the good work being done by the strategic advisory team Afghanistan and how he sees its contribution to the non-military side of developing governance and diplomacy.

[Afghanistan, February 26th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to my hon. friend. I have a couple of quick comments and a question.

With regard to Canada's place in the world and the respect that we have in the world today, I would suggest to the hon. member that the level of respect for Canada has gone up immeasurably since Canada decided to make the responsibility to protect more than just words. In fact, we back it up with actions. My other comment is that we will always take sides with a democracy against terrorist acts conducted by a stateless organization. Let there be no doubt about that.

I want to go back to some of his earlier comments, though, with regard to the fluid and changing situation in which our veterans find themselves and in which the military is finding itself, with more wounded and people who need more services when they come back. Will he acknowledge that a lot of those things are rapidly changing and are fluid and that given the changes that are happening so quickly the fact is that we will probably always be playing a bit of catch-up? Will he acknowledge, though, that when those situations such as the issues of combat pay and funeral expenses came to light, they were acted on very quickly by the Department of National Defence and by the Canadian Forces and that in fact the government has reacted to those things in a positive manner?

[Afghanistan, February 25th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the member continues to show his lack of information on what is actually going on there. In fact, the voter turnout the last time was 60%, not 30%. If he is going to use facts he should at least use the correct ones.

We are delivering on reconstruction development to the best of our ability. It is the Canadian soldiers who are doing that. What does the member think the role of the Taliban is in how we conduct our operations in Afghanistan? It is a simple question. What is his understanding of the role of the Taliban and how it affects us?