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House Hansard - 335

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 19, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 335 - Jun/19/24
Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, CPC)
Mr. Speaker, Conservatives on the defence committee are submitting dissenting reports and opinions for both of the reports from the committee. As we learned at the procurement study, the global threat environment is increasingly precarious. The decision by the government to cut $1 billion a year over the next three years from the defence budget is unconscionable. We are asking that the government reverse that budget cut. We are asking for more leadership coming from the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's Office. We believe that we have to have more ministers who are actually in control and accountable. That includes having a secretary within the PCO and a prime minister who actually takes this seriously. We are asking the Prime Minister to designate one minister to be ultimately accountable for all defence procurement. We are also calling on the government to grant members of the defence committee classified defence-related information and clearances so that we can do a better job of oversight and accountability. I would also just want to say, on the issue of aid to civil power, which we also talked about, one of the important messages that we did hear when the committee was meeting is that, while part IV of the National Defence Act does outline that CAF can provide aid to civil power, it always should be the force of last resort. It is ultimately the responsibility of provincial, municipal and territorial governments to provide protection, and they need to invest more in mitigation and response assistance. We also know that the Canadian Armed Forces are dealing with a retention and recruitment crisis, about which General Eyre was very blunt in his assessment. He said, “The demand signal for those primary tasks we're responsible for is only increasing. However, our readiness to do that is decreasing, due in part to the incessant demand for these types of domestic operations.” Therefore, we are asking again that the budget cut be reversed and that we restore the $2.7 billion that was announced in September 2023. We also say that we want to see the private member's bill, Bill C-386, an act respecting the establishment and award of a special service medal for domestic and emergency relief operations, from the member for Cariboo—Prince George, be accepted by the government and concurred in, and that we can recognize those Canadians who step up to participate in domestic operations, such as disaster assistance, pandemic relief and other avenues, and recognize their contributions. Also, we are saying that there should be an increase in youth involvement in aiding and assisting in civilian volunteer disaster relief.
445 words
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