By Staff
January 29th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
In the evening of January 26th, Karina Gould, Member of Parliament for Burlington stood in the House of Commons and spoke for the first time.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member across the way for his congratulations and extend my own congratulations on his re-election.
It is with enormous privilege and honour that I rise for the first time in the House. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the people of Burlington for bestowing on me the responsibility to be their voice.
Karina Gould, MP
I thank the member for his question and our shared concern for the people of the region. However, the question posed is based on a false premise. As he is well aware, Canada’s contribution has been and will remain significant in the fight against ISIL. Our government is taking a multi-faceted and integrated approach to dealing with the crisis to ensure that Canada’s response has the greatest possible impact for people in the region.
As he is also aware, our government is committed to reviewing our engagement to date in the region and looking at ways of addressing the serious needs there in a comprehensive and effective manner. We are undertaking that review at the present time.
Canada remains committed to the fight against ISIL and the protection of individuals in the camps. Canada’s refocused engagement will strategically target areas where Canada’s involvement can make a difference, leverage Canadian expertise, and complement the efforts of our partners, including through the training of local forces.
As I said at the outset, our work countering ISIL is only one part of our efforts to help address the serious crises in Syria, Iraq, and the region today. It is true that military and security efforts are vital to secure victory over those who are destabilizing the region and terrorizing the local populations, but they are not sufficient to secure a lasting peace for the people of Syria or Iraq.
We must not lose sight of the fact that the solutions to the crises in the region are first and foremost political, and that humanitarian and development needs are growing.
Our government has clearly indicated that it is ready to do more on the world stage. We are also committed to supporting countries and communities in the region that have so generously welcomed millions of refugees and displaced persons. To date, Canada has contributed over $960 million in humanitarian, development, and security assistance in response to this crisis. Over $650 million has been committed to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance on the ground. We are currently among the top 10 humanitarian donors in the region and are providing vital assistance such as food, water, shelter, health, and protection services to millions of conflict-affected people.
House of Commons
Furthermore, once areas have been stabilized and the most immediate humanitarian needs have been met, there is a need for long-term support to strengthen the population’s capacity to rebuild their lives, infrastructure, and institutions. Without that long-term commitment, there is a far greater risk of yet more destabilization in the future and even the potential for states to fail completely, with all the human, political, and security costs that entails. Canada cannot stand by and let that happen.
Of course, we are very proud of the difference we are making in the lives of thousands of Syrians and Canadians by welcoming 25,000 refugees to this country. We all share in this pride.
I would conclude by noting that all of these efforts together are part of Canada’s comprehensive investment in a future for the Middle East region that is more secure, stable, and resilient.
AND finally,
JT should quit being a hypocrite………..selling armoured vehicles to Saudia Arabia and Kuwait (two countries that the UN has great concerns over Human rights abuses). Ya, well to go Canada. Peace keepers or War initiators??
Wow! If this is in fact her response to a question that Staff did not record for this exchange she clearly is a brilliant orator capable of speaking off the top of her head better than a speech writer could have prepared for her.
Spoke or read a speech prepared for her?
“Canada remains committed to the fight against ISIL and the protection of individuals in the camps.”
I guess this statement is up for interpretation. JT says that he has been given a mandate to withdraw our F18s by the people of Canada. I don’t remember any national survey over this mandate. JT did win the election but only 30% voted for him as their first choice. The other 70% voted for him as a counter vote to ‘anyone but Harper’.
Canada stood strong and on-guard at the start of WWI and WWII. We saw evil and declared with national unity our early involvement in the Great Wars. We did not stand by and watch atrocities such as beheading of prisoners/women/children. We did not stand on-guard and watch the raping of women and the burning, torturing and killing of thousands of prisoners.
I understand that we are also known, and take great pride in, our humanitarian “Blue Helmet” peace
keeping roles. What I can’t understand is why we cannot do both. They are not mutually exclusive and at times like this, standing up to evil is what we used to do first!
Ms Gould speech (if written by herself) is politically flawless and well delivered. But it is just political fluff. Our Minister of Defence recent gave another political fluff piece stating that the ISIL coalition did not exclude us from he most recent talks. Of course they did! Canada’s meagre contribution of 5 F18s made a world statement that ‘Canadians who are known as peace keepers and hard to anger’ have once again taken a stance against evil’ giving credence to the ISIL coalition.
Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.