House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 54% of the vote.
Transportation February 25th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 53 of the Canada Transportation Act, I am pleased to table the report on the Canada Transportation Act review this morning.
I wish to thank the hon. David Emerson and his team for their valuable examination of how we can maximize our transportation system's contribution to Canada's economic growth.
Air Canada February 24th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, naturally I am very pleased to learn that Air Canada is going to invest in Bombardier's CSeries aircraft. That is good news. It is also going to support the implementation of a centre of excellence for the next 20 years. That too is good news. When I was answering the question from the hon. member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, I heard the hon. member for Beauce say that no one wants to buy the CSeries. I would like him to explain what he means.
Air Transportation February 24th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is right. I said the CSeries is the finest aircraft in the world in its class. I am delighted that Air Canada has decided to buy 45 of them from Bombardier and possibly another 30.
Not only that, it is going to support putting into place the centre where the maintenance of this aircraft could be done for the next 20 years. This is going to create jobs. This is good for Bombardier. This is good for the aerospace sector. The member should be very happy about it.
Air Canada February 23rd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, Air Canada's decision to buy 45 C Series aircraft and as many as 30 more is good news. This will create both short-term and long-term jobs at Bombardier.
Air Canada has also committed to having those aircraft maintained in Quebec for at least the next 20 years. That is good news. We also know that the Government of Quebec is about to drop its case against Air Canada. That will enable the government to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act.
Aerospace Industry February 23rd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I am delighted with the great news that came out last week concerning the fact that Air Canada decided to purchase 45 C Series jets, and possibly 30 more, and that it will be undertaking the maintenance of those aircraft in Quebec for the next 20 years at least.
This is great news for Bombardier. This is great news for Quebec. This is great news for the aerospace industry. Everybody should be very happy about it.
Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL February 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, once again, those kinds of comments really bother me. The member is practically suggesting that now that the six CF-18s are no longer there, there will be no air support for our troops.
There is a coalition. Many other countries are capable of conducting air strikes. I believe that we will be protected, as we were before. We may not be protected by Canadian fighter jets, but we will be protected by fighter jets from other coalition countries.
Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL February 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I come from a military family. My father was an army officer for his entire career, so I have lived on military bases. I know the military ethos, and I know that our Canadian army and our Canadian soldiers are very good. They are the best in the world. I will say that without any hesitation whatsoever. They do have a lot of experience in terms of the skill in training other military, and they are doing a great job at the moment with the peshmerga in the Kurdish part of Iraq. It is a wise decision to increase that resource so that we strengthen the peshmerga even more, so they are in a better position, as I said in my speech, to ultimately themselves defeat Daesh or ISIS on the ground.
Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL February 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, there are some 65 partners in the coalition, and in a partnership that has the same ultimate purpose, we all get together and decide who is going to do what. There is no question that the role Canada is about to take on certainly comprises risk, but there are plenty of resources available with respect to air strike capability.
We have talked with the other members of the coalition. We told them that we learned quite a bit from our 12 years' experience in Afghanistan in terms of training soldiers, and it is something that we do particularly well. Our partners said it is a good idea for Canada to do that, because that is part of the task that lies ahead of us.
Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL February 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate what my colleague from Scarborough—Agincourt said when he urged members to adopt a civil tone in this debate. We are talking about something very important that affects the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Although there are three parties in the House with their own views on how to defeat ISIL, and although all members of the House have a lot of respect for the men and women of the armed forces, we must still keep this debate respectful. That is what I will certainly try to do today.
I had the opportunity last year to go with then foreign affairs minister, John Baird, to Iraq. I am eternally grateful to Mr. Baird for bringing me along, because I think it gave me some insights that I would not otherwise have.
We went to Baghdad and met with the president of Iraq and the foreign minister. We talked about the political landscape that currently exists in Iraq today. We then went up to Erbil and the following day went to the front lines and met some of the peshmerga troops who were holding the line at that point. We were informed that ISIS was a couple of kilometres away, although we did not have any encounters or see them fire at us.
Later in the day, we had an opportunity to go to a refugee camp. It was called Baharka. It was a new refugee camp. There were about 4,000 refugees there, many of whom had fled from Mosul. Mosul has been mentioned quite a bit today. This was at the time when about 600,000 or 700,000 people had fled under the onslaught of ISIS and then crossed into the Kurdish part of Iraq, seeking refuge. It was truly a desperate situation. There was this huge influx of people with no place to take care of them. They were being housed in the schools, which, unfortunately, were about to open a few days later.
It truly was a picture of the situation that currently exists in Iraq. It certainly was an education for me, in the sense that I realized that, yes, our first aim is that we must defeat Daesh. We know that cannot be done by any other method than Iraqi ground troops moving in an offensive manner toward ISIS at some point when they are ready, and defeating them. Yes, they will be assisted by air strikes and by munitions and other resources provided to them, including training. Ultimately, however, they will have to advance on ISIS and defeat it if Iraq is to achieve its aim.
I should mention, Mr. Speaker, that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Ottawa South.
That is the complexity of the situation.
Our assessment, in the Liberal government, is that we must contribute in an important way to preparing the soldiers who will ultimately be advancing on ISIS.
Whilst we supported the Conservative government when it first sent 69 troops in for a 30-day period, if I recall properly, in September 2014, indicating that we did support the concept of training, we feel now that increased emphasis must be put upon training. Yes, air strike missions will continue to occur and there are many allies in the partnership, the coalition of 65 countries, that are going to be involved with that.
It disturbed me a little when the member for Battle River—Crowfoot mentioned the fact that our CF-18s were not there, but almost seemed to suggest that perhaps there would not be air cover there to support our Canadian troops when they are involved with the training of Kurdish fighters.
I do not know if I was imagining it, but I had the feeling that perhaps the member was saying that since we are no longer there, perhaps that air cover is not going to be provided. I want to reassure Canadians that air cover will be provided to Canadians by many of the other partners in the coalition. Let me make that absolutely crystal clear. It is not a good thing to create the impression that the possibility exists. I want to clear that up right away.
That is the role we have decided to take on, and it is a big role. We will be increasing the number of soldiers who will be involved in the training role. It is an important role and one that will ultimately bear fruit, so that one day ISIS will be pushed out of Mosul and other parts of Iraq and be totally defeated.
The second part of this is what happens afterward. How does a country like Iraq put itself together after addressing the issue of ISIS? Iraq is a complex country. It has Kurds, Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, and minorities like the Yazidis and the Chaldeans. We met a lot of Chaldeans in Erbil, who had fled from Mosul. It is not easy to organize government in such a way that one is able to live in harmony, if I may call it that, in a country like Iraq. It is a big task from that point of view, and Canada can contribute in terms of helping on the issues of governance and how one would address a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society. It is a big task, but Canada can contribute.
The other thing is the refugees themselves. These refugees were living in the worst possible conditions with a terrible winter coming at them. One day these refugees will hopefully be able to move back to Mosul. We hope that these refugees are not so wounded by the horrors that they have had to live through, including the conditions in those camps where they are seeking refuge, that they will not be able to rebuild their lives. That points to the vital importance of focusing also on the humanitarian side.
I looked at the refugee camp in Zaatari in northern Jordan the same year. These people want to go back and resume their lives in Iraq. However, they must not be so wounded or destroyed by the experience that they have gone through that they are not able to do it. Therefore, humanitarian aid is important, so that we can try to make the conditions in those camps as humane as possible, so that when they are able to pick up their lives later on, it will be because they were given the necessary attention.
We are taking a multi-dimensional approach. We are also in Jordan and Lebanon. We are increasing intelligence gathering. We are taking a holistic approach to this. Canadians recognize the fact that the approach we are taking with respect to focusing on training Iraqi soldiers and helping in the camps is the approach that ultimately will ensure Iraq can become a stable country in due course.
Air Canada February 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, as I just said, and my colleague should know this, the Government of Quebec filed a lawsuit and was in litigation against Air Canada.
The Government of Quebec has decided to drop this lawsuit because Air Canada is putting a lot on the table. Not only is it buying 45 to 75 airplanes, but it has also promised to build a centre of excellent for C series airplane maintenance for the next 20 years. That is good news. This will create important jobs for Quebec.