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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 292

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 20, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 292 - Mar/20/24
Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)
  • Mar/20/24 7:14:10 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, like my colleague from the Conservatives, I was at the foreign affairs committee this afternoon as we met with Ukraine's ambassador to Canada. One of the questions I asked her, which I will ask the member as he is a member of the government, was around the loopholes we see within our arms export regime. One thing that I think we all learned in November 2023 was that detonators were going through Kyrgyzstan and being used in Russian mines against Ukrainian people. The last thing I think Canadians want to know is that Canadian parts and components are being used in the very weapons that are being used against Ukrainians. The New Democrats have long called for the closing of loopholes within our arms regime, and the government has not taken steps to do that. Is there any plan from the government to stop the loopholes that allow dual-use goods to be made into the weapons being used against our allies?
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Context: House Hansard - 292 - Mar/20/24
Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • Mar/20/24 9:45:49 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-57 
Mr. Chair, the member knows the answer to the question. I have repeated it and explained it ad nauseam in this House. I want to ask why Liberals opposed the amendments that I brought forward to Bill C-57 at committee. Those amendments were specific things that the arms manufacturing industry in Canada had proposed would be helpful. It asked the Government of Canada to establish a clear plan and send clear signals about its commitments to, over the longer term, acquire the munitions required for Canada's own needs and to support Ukraine. The government has taken no action to send the right signals and provide the necessary support to ramp up our own domestic production of munitions. I believe this is an opportunity for Canada, and it is an urgent issue for supporting Ukraine. Personally, I put forward six different amendments to this bill at committee that would have strengthened the export of munitions to Ukraine. The Liberals blocked those amendments at every turn. Actually, the Liberals and the NDP members were working together. They presented us from passing a motion in the House to allow those amendments to move forward, and they blocked those amendments at committee. It is really shameful for the Liberals to, on the one hand, try to virtue-signal on this issue while continuously blocking efforts to get weapons to move forward. They make announcements but fail to follow through on them. It is not enough to talk about victory at some distant point in the future. We need urgent victory through the urgent delivery of required munitions. The government likes to wrap itself in blue and yellow, but it fails to deliver when it really counts.
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