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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 338

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 18, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 338 - Sep/18/24
Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, CPC)
  • Sep/18/24 4:35:21 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-66 
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the minister's tabling Bill C-66 at second reading. The Conservatives will be supporting Bill C-66, but we want to send it to committee. We know that it needs to be thoroughly studied, and we want to make sure that it is going to work for victims. We want to hear from stakeholders, military justice experts and the CAF itself to ensure that the appropriate action is being taken. The government came to power nine long years ago, and here we are in the dying days of this Parliament and the government, and the Liberals are finally bringing forward something they knew was a problem. In 2015, former chief justice Deschamps brought forward a report that sat on the desk of former chief of the defence staff Jonathan Vance, and on the desk of the former minister of national defence, who is now the Minister of Emergency Preparedness, for years and they did nothing with it. The Liberals actually covered up the sexual misconduct by former chief of the defence staff Jonathan Vance. They even stalled a committee from doing an investigation into why there was a cover-up from the Prime Minister's Office by Katie Telford and by the former minister of national defence. Why did they allow that to happen and why did they not act then to address the problems we had in the Canadian Armed Forces in protecting the victims of sexual misconduct?
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Context: House Hansard - 338 - Sep/18/24
Hon. Bill Blair
  • Sep/18/24 4:44:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her concern. I believe that for every member of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence, having trust in their workplace, that their rights will be protected and that they will be respected is absolutely essential. It is why, in this bill, we are trying to make very clear that all members of the military justice system will be independent in their actions so that they will not be taking direction from the chain of command. They need to know that they are going to be treated with fairness, respect and compassion. They also need to know that they are going to have access to services. Our responsibility, all of us, is to show respect and that we have heard their concerns. We have a responsibility to every man and woman who serves in the Canadian Armed Forces to make sure that they have a respectful, supportive work environment and to treat them with the dignity and respect that each one of them deserves. This bill is going to help us with that, but we have a job to do to make sure that we explain exactly what our rationale is. There has been a great deal of consultation, but there is more work to do.
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Context: House Hansard - 338 - Sep/18/24
Ms. Christine Normandin
  • Sep/18/24 5:41:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for London—Fanshawe for the question she asked in perfect French. Unfortunately, that comes back to what I was saying earlier. There are so many important issues to examine. Unless I am mistaken, the issue that she raised is addressed in a motion, but there are so many motions that the Standing Committee on National Defence has to examine. Generally speaking, the substance of these motions is worthwhile. The Standing Committee on National Defence has worked relatively well over the past two and a half years since I have been the critic for this file. The problem is not the quality of the files that we need to look at, but the fact that the workload is enormous and the number of issues continues to grow. I therefore agree with what my colleague is saying. Unfortunately, the problem is more about prioritizing all of the files that the Standing Committee on National Defence has to look at. We have more work than we have time for.
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