Hansard: CPC MP Kevin Sorenson-vs-Hon. Anne McLellan
Hansard--or selected exchanges, anyway--could become a best seller.
Readers, you just have to know where to look for the information, start to question, and be able to do some basic math. It appears that the media are so controlled--or is it lazy?--in this country that most of the media--most of the time--just take the press releases at face value without ever challenging the information. Most of the media are too complacent; they simply regurgitate whatever is fed to them.
Think about the following. Read it and then, read it again.
How is it possible that all this activity can go on unimpeded and everybody just looks the other way in the hope that the general public won't pay attention? How could major criminal activity have reached the $30 billion level without being severely challenged? The sad part is that top investigators like RCMP Corporal Robert Read and RCMP Sgt. Stenhouse were thrown to the wolves -- while the crooks in Canada have had a free hand.
*** The first duty of a government is to protect its citizens. Obviously, NOT IN CANADA! Is it possible that the first duty of certain people in our government was to make sure their friends were looked after? NJC ***
Hansard March 31- Question Period National Security
Mr. Kevin Sorenson (Crowfoot, CPC): Mr. Speaker, for a decade the Prime Minister has been part of a government that has failed to effectively protect Canadians.
In her report the Auditor General found major deficiencies in inter-agency cooperation and a lack of coordination of intelligence management. These were the same problems that the Auditor General found in 1996, eight years ago.
Why, after a decade of neglect and a decade of failure, should Canadians trust the Prime Minister with the security of our nation?
Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, it is this Prime Minister who on December 12 created a new Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. It is this Prime Minister who created for the first time a new position of national security advisor. It is this Prime Minister who is going to create a new committee of parliamentarians to deal with questions of national security.
Stop right there! Think about what she said. "create new . . . ". These are bureaucratic positions, are they not? What has been the actual funding for our security forces on the ground to use for INVESTIGATIONS, MANPOWER--whatever is necessary--to provide Canadian citizens with real security? NJC
In fact, there is no one more committed to the safety and security of Canadians than this Prime Minister.
Mr. Kevin Sorenson (Crowfoot, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the minister can boast all she wants about the belated creation of the department of national security. The reality is that it is too little, too late.
The fact remains that this Prime Minister was part of a government that failed to fulfill its fundamental role which is the protection of its citizens.
The Auditor General stated that it will take years to rectify. We do not have years. We are named as a terrorist target today. Check the headlines today.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly failed Canadians. Why should we trust the Prime Minister again?
Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, far from failing Canadians in relation to safety and security, I guess the hon. member forgets that as finance minister the Prime Minister committed $7.7 billion in the fall of 2001 to help enhance the safety and security of Canadians.
The hon. member refers to Canada being a named country. I want to reassure Canadians that the naming of Canada as a target is not new news. Osama bin Laden did that some 18 months ago. In fact, there are no specific. . .
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Does the gun registry $$$ come out of this $7.7 billion? If you count $1-billion for the registry, I believe, then add to it all the bits that have gone to other departments or branches which are part of this, I understand that brings it up to about $2-BILLION CANADIAN TAXPAYER DOLLARS.
It is VERY DIFFICULT to find out where money goes in this government -- as those who tried to follow the expenses of our Governor General can attest. It took concerted effort and looking at several departments on the part of the Auditor General's Department to find out the $$$ trail -- a massive over-spending of Canadian taxpayers' money for dubious value.
If what I have just written is wrong, please correct me. I shall post it. NJC