Leon Benoit

[Afghanistan, April 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the Afghanistan motion recently passed by this House outlined our assessment that NATO needs to provide more troops in southern Afghanistan. Our Prime Minister, our Minister of National Defence and our Minister of Foreign Affairs have been working hard at pressing this point with our allies.

Yesterday we heard important news coming out of the summit. The French have committed to send more troops to eastern Afghanistan and the Americans have agreed to bolster our troops in the south. Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence tell us what this means for Canada and for NATO?

[Interparliamentary Delegations, April 2nd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I have two reports from interparliamentary delegations.

Pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the delegation of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association respecting its participation in the joint meeting of the defence and security, economics and security, and the political committees held in Brussels, Belgium, and the European Commission on February 17 to 19, 2008.

As well, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the delegation of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association respecting its participation at the defence and security committee held in Berlin, Germany, on November 5 and 6, 2007.

[Afghanistan, March 13th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted that today I have listened to a member of the Liberal Party and agree with most of what he is saying. It was very well said, in fact, and I commend him for that.

My wife Linda and I have five children between the ages of 25 and 30. None of them are serving in the Canadian Forces. If they were, I would be very proud of them because I would know the work they were doing was so valuable. My wife and I are proud of them. All five of them are doing very useful work for our country. If one or more of them were providing aid in Afghanistan, I would be very proud of them. We would both be busting at the seams. It is very important work.

However, I know that if I had a choice between having one of my children serving in the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan or one of my children providing aid in Afghanistan with the military removed and the security gone, I would feel much safer and more comfortable with the child serving in the Canadian Forces providing security. If they were trying to provide aid without our forces there, it would be impossible. It would be extremely dangerous and simply would not happen.

I listened to the members of the Bloc and the NDP arguing that we do not want to be involved in combat but want to keep providing aid. That is completely unrealistic. I would like to ask the member opposite how he thinks the members of the Bloc and the NDP square their positions.

They say they care about the people of Afghanistan, but want to remove the security that allows aid to be delivered. They argue both sides. They must know that without the security there, aid simply cannot be delivered and the people of Afghanistan will slip back under Taliban control in time. That is certainly what would happen.

I would like the member to comment on that and provide an answer, if he could, as to how they square these two positions that just do not seem to make any sense.

[Afghanistan, March 13th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the member who just spoke referred to his thoughts of his daughters and the kind of life they have here compared to what is going on in Afghanistan. One of the important statistics is that 40,000 more babies in Afghanistan live as a result of Canadian and NATO forces being there so that the building can take place to allow those lives to be saved.

My wife Linda and I became grandparents for the first time last year. We now have an 11 month old granddaughter, Lara, and a nine month old grandson, Bennett. I would argue that a child is no less loved and no less precious in Afghanistan than our children are here. How does the hon. member think the Bloc and the NDP members square these facts? They must understand we need the troops to be in Afghanistan to deliver the aid that allows infant mortality to drop. I would like to ask the member how he squares that contradiction in their two positions.

[Afghanistan, March 13th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleague to elaborate on the contradiction between the position that the New Democrats are taking in the House, which is to vote against extending the mission, and the knowledge that most of the NGOs and most of the people who are working in Afghanistan to build that country and build the security forces in that country, would leave if the NATO countries were to leave.

I wonder if the member has any ideas as to how the New Democrats square these two positions.

[Petitions, March 4th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to present a petition on behalf of petitioners who have noted that in federal criminal law an unborn child is not recognized as a victim with respect to violent crimes. They point to the situation in Edmonton when Olivia Talbot was shot and killed in November 2005 and her 27-week-old unborn son, Lane Jr., also died. Because the law offers no legal protection for unborn children today, no charge was laid in the death of baby Lane.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to enact legislation which will recognize unborn children as separate victims when they are injured or killed during the commission of an offence against their mothers. Members will have the opportunity to do that tomorrow night on Bill C-484, which is sponsored by the member for Edmonton—Sherwood Park.

[Petitions, February 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of many constituents today.

The petitioners note that the unborn child is not respected when it comes to violent crimes. They point to the case of Olivia Talbot of Edmonton who was shot and killed in November 2005. Her 27 week unborn son, Lane junior, also died. Because there is no legal protection under the law, no charge was laid. The petitioners call for that to be changed so there would be a separate charge laid when an unborn child is a victim of a violent crime against the mother.

[Unborn Victims of Crime, February 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Edmonton—Sherwood Park for his excellent work on Bill C-484, which is an improved version of a bill that I introduced and debated in the House about a year ago.

This bill, if passed, would protect unborn children who are targets of violence when their mother is a victim of a crime.

Mary Talbot, the mother of 2005 murder victim, Olivia Talbot, and grandmother of Olivia's unborn son, said to Joyce Arthur, who is a detractor of this bill:

Please show some respect for my daughter's and her unborn baby's memory....And I feel I can ask the same for the rest of the families who are at this time grieving the loss of their loved ones. I hope you never have to experience the pain, anguish and sense of injustice of losing a beloved family member to violence, only to learn that no crime was committed, only to learn that the one your heart breaks for, was of no worth.

Mary has said it well, and it is enough reason for all MPs to vote for Ken Epp's bill, Bill C-484.

[Livestock Industry, February 13th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for a very good question. I agree that our government, while we have done a lot, has not done everything we can do to make the standards and the way farmers have to deal with regulation, with SRMs as an example, to make them similar in Canada to what they are in the United States.

We have done a lot and I fully acknowledge there is more to be done in that area. In the years ahead we will do a lot more in that area. These are not things that can be done overnight. We were left with a government that ignored farmers for 13 years.

[Livestock Industry, February 13th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the member's questions and comments, but I do want to correct him on one thing. I did not say the government had done all it can do. I said we have done or are doing all we can do. I believe that is the case.

A lot of the loan money that we are delivering as fast as we can to cattlemen and hog producers is not yet delivered. Should it have been, and could it have been delivered in December? Absolutely. But we simply could not do it. The mechanism was not in place before. We are now putting it in place and that slows the progress down. We have to get agreements with the provinces and we have them with many of the provinces. Many of the provinces have their own programs in fact, including about five of them. That helps.

I want to be clear. Have we done all we can do? No. But have we done, and what we are still doing in terms of delivering loan money, doing all we can do? I would say, yes. Except I would acknowledge that we have a lot to do in some areas.

In the area of developing markets, and this is to deal with a long term problem. It is not going to deal with a problem here--