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Mike Dawson

Replying to Kevin Lamoureux (Liberal)
“Mr. Speaker, that speech failed to meet reality, quite frankly. It was off on so many points, and I wish I had the time to legitimately critique the member’s comments. The member started off by talking about credentials. I will compare the credentials of our Prime Minister to the credentials of the leader of the Conservative Party any day, as Canadians did in the last federal election. Then he went on to talk about our men and women in the forces. Is he serious? The Prime Minister, in his first six months, achieved the 2% target. We have seen more people putting in applications to be members of the forces this last year than in the last 30 years. In many ways, we are moving forward. The Crown corporation he was referring to would ensure more accountability, more efficiency and more transparency. The member needs to get outside of the Conservative—”

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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite asked about accountability. Let us talk about accountability and what this bill would do. It would hand an unnamed minister the power to sole-source almost anything tied to defence and national security, 13 different reasons to skip a competition and the ability to exclude a bidder on security grounds without a full explanation, with no serious requirements to come back to the House and report how those powers are used. At the same time, it would allow the government to buy shares in corporations and replace directors and officers. That is not a minor technical change. That is the power to take control of a company when it suits the government of the day. It sounds like socialism to me. In my line of work, if someone wants to spend other people’s money with almost no questions asked, we do not call that efficiency; we call that a problem. The Canadian Armed Forces do not need more unaccountable power in the hands of one minister. They need equipment that arrives on time, with someone to hold—