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James Bezan

Member of Parliament
Conservative

Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman
Manitoba
Voting Attendance: 67%
Expenses Last Quarter: $140,796.07

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 237 - Oct/23/23

Oct/23/23 6:28:56 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-57

Madam Speaker, this is an issue that we really have to be concerned about. The Liberals have already allowed over $10 billion of the national defence budget to lapse over the last several years. This is money that should have been spent on our armed forces and has not been. Our troops are dealing with a number of crises right now within the forces, including the cost of living and housing. We hear stories about them actually going out and asking for donations to help offset those costs. We know that the $1 billion that is coming out now is coming at the wrong time. As I mentioned in my speech, we have donated howitzers, Leopard tanks and armoured vehicles to Ukraine. However, every time we donate, we also have to replenish our own stock of munitions and equipment to make sure that our army, air force and navy are mobile and expeditionary and can do the job that we call upon them to do from time to time. The world, as we are witnessing, is getting scarier all the time. If we do not have strong Canadian Armed Forces, they are not going to be able to guarantee our peace, security and way of life right here in Canada.

210 words

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Context: House Hansard - 237 - Oct/23/23

Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, CPC)

Oct/23/23 4:44:20 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-57

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech on the need to provide more support to Ukraine. The member talked about the military aid we provide for Ukraine. I can tell members that when I was in Ukraine earlier this summer, they were very grateful for the support that Canada has given them. However, as Conservatives, we have been advocating for quite some time that the Government of Canada actually provide more military aid to Ukraine, including more weapons. One of the things that we are about to be decommissioning here in Canada, and some have already been sent off to the scrap heap, is a number of our older armoured vehicles. Armatec, in London, Ontario, has offered to take those old vehicles, refurbish them and send them off to Ukraine to help them win this war. We know that the M113 track LAVs that Canada has would be very welcome along with our old Bisons and Coyotes that are in the process of being retired. The old M113s that were sent from the United States and Australia have actually helped liberate Kharkiv, and we know that in this fight today, the more Ukrainians are being put in armed vehicles, the more they can push back and the more they can win. I would ask the member if he would support having Armatec refurbish old, outdated LAVs that the Government of Canada is retiring from the Canadian Armed Forces.

240 words

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Context: House Hansard - 178 - Apr/17/23

Mr. James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, CPC)

Apr/17/23 1:24:15 p.m.
Watch

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?

191 words

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Member of Parliament

James Bezan