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House Hansard - 338

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 18, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 338 - Sep/18/24
Hon. Bill Blair (Minister of National Defence, Lib.)
  • Sep/18/24 5:06:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first, let me admire the hubris of the member opposite. When he sat in government and his then government reduced defence spending to less than 1% of GDP, he sat there and went along with it. Over the last eight years, as we have more than doubled defence spending in Canada, every single time, the member voted against the dollars for it. Even when we brought forward money for a well-deserved raise for our soldiers, he sat there on his hands and voted against it. Deeds speak; his actions and the actions of a Conservative government speak much louder than the empty talk we are hearing now. I just want to comment on some of his remarks. I have been involved in the criminal justice system most of my adult life. I want to advise him that acquittal is not evidence of a dysfunctional justice system; in fact, it is quite the opposite. It is actually proof that the system can work. I also want to address another misconception in his words. When we are eliminating concurrent jurisdiction and moving these sexual offences into the civilian criminal justice system, we are not suggesting that our military police are not doing their job properly. They are excellent, and they do their work very ably. The change is not about the military police. The change is about the victims; it is about the perception of victims, of women and men, who have been subject to sexual harassment and sexual assault in the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence. We want to make sure that they can trust that they do not have to go to their boss to report their victimization. They can seek justice and support in a way that is independent of their work environment. That is how we create a safe, supportive and respectful work environment for those people, not by invoking somebody's very strange version of warrior culture. We are talking about treating all the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces decently, respectfully, which is the way they deserve to be treated.
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