Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Sarnia—Lambton for her hard work and the speech she just gave, in which she addressed a lot of important issues. I also want to recognize the good work of the critic on this file.
I think if Canadians listen carefully to this debate, they will hear the root of the problem, which is the political games that are being played by the government and its not being straight and transparent. A lot of photo-ops and half information is being shared.
The motion that we are debating today is the Liberal motion on fighting ISIS. The Liberals said they were going to expand the advise and assist mission of the Canadian Forces, by enhancing capacity-building efforts with our defence partners and Jordan and Lebanon, and by withdrawing our CF-18s.
How do we expand by withdrawing? It is a Liberal concept that we would expand by withdrawing, and it does not make sense.
Will the Griffon helicopters the Liberals say they are going to send in be armed? Will they be able to defend themselves against attack? The Liberals will not answer that. Why will they not answer those important questions? It is sort of smoke and mirrors that we are getting. Why would they not be honest and transparent and inform Canadians truly what their plan is about?
When the Liberals do not answer straightforward questions, we ask why? What are they hiding? Why are they not being honest with Canadians?
I come from a family where my father was a Canadian veteran. He was in the army. When I was first elected in 2004, I was given the great honour of joining the Canadian military for a short period of time to experience what it was like to be in the Canadian military. As my father spent time in tanks in the Second World War while he was in the army, that was where I went first. I loved my time there and the experience in the army. The second experience was in the navy. I have had the great honour of working with a number of veterans, active reserves, and full-time military people.
I am so proud and so thankful for the Canadians who make the sacrifice of serving Canada. Their hearts are so big. They are there to represent Canada with great pride, and they are also there to help those in the world who are being attacked.
This is a very serious issue that we are dealing with. The member for Sarnia—Lambton highlighted the First World War and the Second World War, and how Canada had a reputation carrying far beyond its weight.
We look back not that long ago when there was a Liberal government, which was described by the military as the decade of darkness. It was a sad time. When I was elected in 2004, we found the Canadian military in Afghanistan with the wrong colour of uniform, and poorly equipped. They were put in the hottest part of Afghanistan, and they were at the greatest of risk and poorly equipped.
That changed in 2006 when we became government. There was the pride of our Canadian military and thankfulness, and every Friday people would wear red, at least in our party, as a show of thanks to our Canadian military. There were a number of people coming out at Remembrance Day, and it continued to grow and grow. There was just a pride and a thankfulness that we shared with our Canadian military.
Then we saw a pure evil from ISIS as it exposed its ugly head. I think back to why we are in this with our allies. No one wants to be in war, but there was a radical Islamic terrorist, murderous group called ISIS that started doing horrific things. We have to think back to what it was that caused our allies and the world to say that this had to stop.
ISIS forces cut off and surrounded thousands of civilians on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq. At least 500 men were slaughtered execution style, with an unknown number of women being captured and sold into slavery. At least 70 children were reported to have died from thirst and at least 50 elderly perished. Then we were horrified when hostages in green jumpsuits were paraded helplessly in front of a camera and beheaded slowly. Many of the victims were humanitarian aid workers.
Then we saw children being brutally crucified. Some were buried alive. Many were sold into sexual slavery. We saw Coptic Christians being beheaded because of their faith. We saw ISIS round up 45 civilians in a town, some thought to be Iraqi security forces, and their families, and they were burned alive. ISIS released a horrific video showing a captured Jordanian pilot standing in a cage, doused with gasoline, eventually set on fire, and then crushed by giant rocks.
We saw that ISIS took some 400 male prisoners out into the desert, where there was a mass execution. We saw that four Iraqi children under the age of 15 were beheaded because they refused to convert from Christianity to Islam. In northern Iraq, 3,500 captured women were sold into sexual slavery, tortured, and repeatedly raped. On and on it goes.
The world said this is wrong, and we need to stand against this true, pure evil. The world came together, and Canada carried well above its weight. What did we do? We were involved with almost 250 bombings while doing our part: 249 ISIS fighting positions were destroyed by Canadian jets, 83 items of ISIS equipment and vehicles were destroyed by Canadian jets, 24 ISIS improvised explosive device factories and storage facilities were destroyed by Canadian jets. We know that recently Canadian troops were there training and there was an attack by ISIS forces. Canadian jets were called for backup, and ISIS was attacked and pushed back. It is a strong legacy, a strong history of Canada doing its part.
What is the plan? The plan is to withdraw the Canadian jets. I think there would be support from the Conservative side if Canada continued to do its part. Some of what the government wants to do has merit, but the decisions are cloaked in clouds of secrecy, there is confusion and mixed messages, and Liberals are not sharing what their plan is, while removing one of the biggest impacts that Canada has had with its allies, the jets. Why are the Liberals doing that? They are doing it because during the rhetoric of the election not that long ago, they promised they would remove them.
Following that, there were the attacks in Paris. That is when there was a shift and the Canadian people were saying they did not want to hold the new Prime Minister to that promise because it was said in haste, not thought out. Canadians said it was okay and the jets should stay there. Then why are we bringing the jets back when they are so effective? The allies are asking us to continue to participate.
It was not that long ago that a conference of our allies here in Canada was asking how they could continue to fight against ISIS effectively. Canada was not even invited to that conference. Why? It is because we are backing away and we have a plan that is cloaked in secrecy.
Conservatives ask the government to do the right thing and reconsider keeping our Canadian CF-18s involved in this fight. It should do the right thing, and we should do our part as Canadians so that we can stand proud and free as Canadians.
