National Defence committee  I think Russia's increased military spending comes out of its general view towards its position in the world. It wants to regain a superpower status. In so many areas, with the Russian economy declining, with population declining, and with so many challenges, they look to that as

National Defence committee  The Russians do call the former Soviet Union states the “near abroad”. They consider it a special status and they may view it as a kind of buffer to NATO. I don't like the term because it makes Ukraine look like it's a pawn in a chess match. Ukrainians are people who deserve to l

National Defence committee  This is an area where we have to tread very carefully. Because we want the norm to be non-intervention and non-attack, we have to make sure that Canada and other NATO allies are not pushing the envelope. I am a strong believer in defensive measures against cyber-attacks and dir

National Defence committee  NATO is the most powerful alliance in the world. It funds far more than any adversary. I would say—given that the U.S. spends well over $600 billion on defence and has formed the backbone of NATO—it's as good as you can get in the world of human affairs. The sense of “all for o

National Defence committee  Thank you, sir, for your consideration, and thank you for the honour of testifying before this important committee. My past testimony before parliamentary committees has been on arms control, Afghanistan operations, peacekeeping, and the United Nations. Those subjects are in my

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I have a very quick one. Certain things you can plan for. If you want to make sure that you're not assisting with cluster munitions, have it that American planes don't carry cluster munitions. These weapons are becoming anachronistic; they're something of the past. Let's

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll bring together the last two questioners' points. A cluster munitions ban is now part of international law. We do want to have it clear for the soldiers whether they can or can't use cluster munitions, so a good Canadian law also helps make that, as well as the directions fr

Foreign Affairs committee  Right. Well, “notwithstanding” can mean various things under labour laws, constitutional law, international law. This treaty came through a series of negotiations with amendments and compromises. The Canadian negotiator definitely did not want article 21 to become a loophole. H

Foreign Affairs committee  I think General Natynczyk could give you very good examples of caveats from Afghanistan. Obviously, we signed the landmine convention and the United States hasn't. We don't want to be laying landmines if we're in a joint camp together. The caveats that came up frequently and

Foreign Affairs committee  That would come in the very rare possibility of a court case. The court might have to decide what active assistance is exactly. Participating knowingly, because there's the mens rea provision of law, and knowingly putting a cluster munition into the ground and shooting it is bein

Foreign Affairs committee  I've had discussions with people from Foreign Affairs and from JAG in the military, and they were valuable discussions. There's a debate about the utility of such strong language allowing such a wide range of activities for Canadian soldiers. We both agree that the Canadian sol

Foreign Affairs committee  I sympathize with the government's desire to protect Canadian soldiers from prosecution if they're somehow involved, even peripherally, with cluster munitions, but I don't think you need such strong legislation. It goes the furthest of all legislation that's been passed by 84 rat

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to appear before this important committee. I gave the same remarks in 1995 with respect to the Chemical Weapon Convention. In addition, I was present in Parliament when the Ottawa convention banning antipersonnel mines was ratified. At t