House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 64% of the vote.
National Defence March 25th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, I have already made it very clear that Canada will pursue its air campaign in Syria on the same legal basis that our allies have been pursuing that campaign without challenge for the past several months.
Our position is that ISIL should be given no safe refuge in Syria. The fact that Canada and its allies strongly oppose the Assad regime is, of course, absolutely no reason to allow ISIL safe haven in Syria, from which it could launch attacks against others.
National Defence March 24th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, as our allies have indicated, they are taking necessary and proportionate military action in Syria on the basis that the government of Syria is unwilling or unable to prevent ISIL from staging operations and conducting attacks there, including ultimately attacks that include this country as a target. That is the legal basis on which we are proceeding.
The practical basis is that we are determined to do whatever we can to degrade ISIL and to eliminate the threat it poses to this country, and Canadians support us doing that.
National Defence March 24th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, our allies have been doing this for months now and have been dealing with these difficulties. The reality is that the Assad regime is not willing, nor does it have the capacity, to combat the Islamic State in Syria.
To prevent the Islamic State from seeking refuge in Syria, we believe it is necessary to work with our allies to mitigate this threat.
National Defence March 24th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, in the motion the government has no intention of having our special forces operate in Syria. They will continue operating in northern Iraq, assisting peshmerga forces there. However, as I made clear earlier, we will extend our air strike campaign against ISIL to include Syrian as well as Iraqi territory.
National Defence March 24th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, once again, the motion today asks to approve the government's decision to extend the mission for up to 12 months. Obviously, as we go forward, we will continue to evaluate the nature of the threat to this country and the nature of the actions that ourselves and our allies think are necessary.
What we are putting before the House today we believe is the minimum necessary to contribute in a robust way to a threat that is very real for this country and at the same time to try and reinforce the ability of Iraqi forces to carry their own—
National Defence March 24th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, of course, we have air forces that are in combat. We have not had a soldier killed behind enemy lines or, for that matter, killed by enemy forces. That is a reality.
These are the things we are doing to protect this country and to assist the Iraqis in doing a better job of safeguarding their own country.
I do not know what the policy is on the other side. I hear all kinds of reasons why we should provide humanitarian aid, which we are doing. I hear no compelling argument on the other side as to why we should completely ignore the very real threat to this country, which Canadians know exists.
This government understands it, and we are working with the entire international community, which understands it, to deal with it.
National Defence March 24th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, let me once again be very clear about what we are dealing with here.
This group, the so-called Islamic State, represents a direct threat not just to the region. It represents a threat to the world. By word and by deed, it represents a threat to this country. We have made important deployments. Obviously those deployments could easily be changed if that were necessary.
Our goal here is to deal with the threat to this country. We will deal with it as long as it is there. We will not stop dealing with it before that.
National Defence March 24th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, there will be as many air force and special forces members as there are now.
National Defence March 24th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the government has done exactly what it said it would do.
That is why the vast majority of Canadians support the mission. The so-called Islamic State represents a threat not only to the region but also to the entire world, including Canada. The actions and words of this organization make it clear that the government must take action, and this government plans to take action. No one understands why the opposition would do nothing to protect Canadians.
National Defence March 24th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, there are two things.
First of all, increasingly ISIL has sought safe haven refuge in Syria, which we obviously want to prevent. On top of that, our allies have been conducting operations against ISIL in Syria—some of our allies—over the past several months, with some success.
We think those operations are important. We think the mission is important. For the very fact that this mission is so important to the security of this country, we intend to fully contribute.