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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 178

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 17, 2023 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 178 - Apr/17/23
Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, CPC)
  • Apr/17/23 1:24:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to draw to the hon. member's attention that there is again no commitment to increasing funding for the Canadian Armed Forces in this budget. We saw in the last report from NATO that Canadian investment in our armed forces and our collective defence with our allies has fallen to 1.29% of the GDP rather than 2%, where it is supposed to be. That is down from 1.34%, where it was just a couple of years ago. Under the Liberals, the government continues to allow spending to erode. From his recent trip to Taiwan, the member knows how important collective defence is and how, in these times of great power rivalries, we are dealing with the Communist regime in Beijing, the corrupt kleptocrats in the Kremlin and the war in Ukraine. Therefore, we need to be standing on guard. Will the member ensure that his government makes the proper investments in the Canadian Armed Forces so that we have enough staff, which is currently down 10,000 members, and the equipment to do the tasks that our military is so often called upon to do?
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Context: House Hansard - 178 - Apr/17/23
Mr. Randeep Sarai
  • Apr/17/23 1:25:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I witnessed first-hand the needs of the Canadian military and Canada's defence needs on our trip to Taiwan, noting that many countries rely on us and our support and our allies. Canada's commitments to NORAD, NATO and the fight against Russia's war on Ukraine have demonstrated that we punch above our weight. We are committed. We have just ordered the F-35s, a new fleet of fighter jets. We will continue to make the necessary investments, just as we are doing in NORAD, with more radar stations. When it comes to human resources challenges, I think we are facing that across the board in Canada, not only in our military. It is across government and the private sector. For that, we are doing as much as we can to gain immigration, give more opportunities and fill that employment gap of almost one million that we have in Canada right now.
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