Statement made on 23 June 2011 by Senator Roméo Dallaire
Hon. Roméo Antonius Dallaire:
Honourable senators, as a young officer I was paraded to a superior officer and I was told that I was "flippant." I did not understand what the word meant. I had to go back and get a dictionary because the officer could not speak French. Anyway, I figured out what it meant.
The responses of the minister in this institution are of that nature. I did not ask her, nor put in debate, anything about the quality of our soldiers, the command structure or the fact that her government equipped them. I did not even hint at anything pejorative in that sense at all. The minister raised these issues because that seems to be how she responds to a direct question.
Honourable senators, I am going back to the matter. What I quoted was exact. What the Prime Minister did is not in the tradition of the Canadian military, which is to have a commander beside him when he is speaking to the press in an established press conference. That we have seen. However, the leader cannot tell me that using a whole getup with troops — who should be resting, training or back in the field — in order to hold a press conference is not theatrics and she cannot tell me that is not irresponsible.
In particular, it is irresponsible for the Prime Minister to tell the troops that they are now changing the mission because of victory, instead of saying exactly what the previous government and they agreed upon, which is that we are pulling out because politically it is cute to pull out now and do training instead of continuing to fight, which is what the Americans and my colleagues, the marines, are still doing.
However, the follow-on is the same. Last year the government called upon all departments to cut — that is, to present — a 5-per-cent low-priority list to cabinet to be implemented this year. This list, apparently, is still cabinet confidential, but it will be implemented. Not only that, but in the Speech from the Throne the government announced that there will be an operational review that will potentially cut 5 per cent and there is also an option to cut 10 per cent.
Can the minister tell me, now that we will not be fighting, whether or not the Canadian Forces will continue to be supported in maintaining their operational capability in the reserves, or whether they will also be subject to these cuts that seem to be coming for implementation in 2012-13?
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