Peter MacKay

[National Defence, May 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, our respect for Master Corporal Wolowidnyk and members of the Canadian Armed Forces could not be higher. In fact, that is why we have not only made significant efforts to improve the mental health and overall health of our Canadian Forces through enormous investments, we have also made enormous investments across the board. We have seen all sectors of the Canadian Forces receive the support that they need, that they deserve, that they continue to earn daily in service of our country.

I do not know why the hon. member, coming from the Liberal Party, would take issue with those massive investments we have made to improve the lives and well-being of the Canadian Armed Forces.

[National Defence, May 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this is again a very tragic matter, and I have met with members of Corporal Langridge's family. However, the reality here is that the Military Police Complaints Commission and the National Defence Act require that the report itself, an interim report, is not to be made public.

It will be reviewed by the Chief of the Defence Staff, and then it will be made available to the family, but the hon. member, who is not only a critic, but a lawyer, is surely not suggesting that the Minister of National Defence would break the law by releasing an interim report. I hope he is not suggesting that.

[National Defence, May 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I do agree with the hon. member that this is of course an enormous obligation and priority for our government, and in fact that is why we have taken the extraordinary step of investing significant resources in improving the health care system, including the mental health professionals, within the Canadian Armed Forces. We are now at around 400 full-time mental health professionals. That is, incidentally, the largest soldier to mental health professional ratio in NATO.

We will continue to make those important investments work with the Canadian Mental Health Association to see that those numbers continue to rise, and that the treatment that our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and women receive is among the best in the world.

[National Defence, May 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, what I can assure the hon. member and the House is that we take the mental health of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and women and their very well-being as a very serious obligation solemn obligation.

With respect to this particular case, Master Corporal Wolowidnyk's is a situation where there is an effort being made to help him to transition. In fact, we are assured by the military that every effort is being made to respect his wishes, to respect those of his family, to ensure that this transition is as smooth as possible for him.

[Justice, May 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, again, let us just set the record straight. This government undertook the most inclusive process ever for the Supreme Court appointment process. Going back again to the premise of this question, it was not until members of the opposition in this place then began to somehow suggest that it was against the appointment of Mr. Justice Nadon, it was the official critic from the opposition for justice who suggested he was a very competent and able legal jurist.

[Justice, May 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, what I can tell the hon. member once again is that I cannot comment on the suggestion that somehow disgruntled, unnamed Conservative supposed sources who spoke to the press would somehow bear any credence on the decision by the Supreme Court justice's office to release a press release on the subject.

What I have told him, and what I told the leader of the official opposition, is that we followed, in fact, the most open and inclusive process for consultation ever undertaken by a government with respect to a Supreme Court appointment.

[Justice, May 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, somewhere in that convoluted question was the suggestion that somehow I would know what high-ranking anonymous Conservatives might have told a reporter of the National Post. I am afraid I simply cannot help the member with that convoluted question.

[Justice, May 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I went to law school too. I know the hon. member did, but I do not believe he is actually telling us that he thinks the Supreme Court Act, prior to the ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada in the most recent reference, which was proactively referenced by this government, prohibited the appointment of a Supreme Court judge who had come through the Federal Court. That is not in the Supreme Court Act, so I invite the hon. member to go back and read that legislation himself.

[Justice, May 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition seems to be a bit agitated for a Monday morning. The reality is that the Government of Canada, my office, took the position that we were proceeding not only within a constitutional manner but on the considered learned advice of two former Supreme Court justices and the foremost legal expert in the country when it comes to our Constitution.

We were also acting on the advice of a parliamentary committee that had provided a list from which we were acting.

[Justice, May 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, no, in fact I was talking about Mr. Justice Rothstein, whom the hon. member I think knows came from the Federal Court, albeit not from Quebec.

With respect to upholding the laws, with upholding the integrity of our justice system, of course the Attorney General and justice minister will do just that.