MP Derek Lee calls Border Services Officers WIMPS
House of Commons - Sept 25, 2006
 

Canada-U.S. Border

Mr. Joe Comartin (Windsor—Tecumseh, NDP):

    Mr. Speaker, yesterday 60 Canadian border guards were forced to walk off four Canadian border crossings because an armed and dangerous criminal was approaching the border.

Mr. Derek Lee: That's because they are a bunch of wimps.

Mr. Joe Comartin:
     Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago guards requested the right to be armed to protect themselves and Canada's borders. Now the government has said it is going to take an unbelievable 10 more years to accomplish this.

     We need to stop the tide of illegal guns coming into this country and our guards at the border need the tools to do this.

    Will the government today commit to having every single guard armed in five years or less?

Hon. Stockwell Day (Minister of Public Safety, CPC):

    Mr. Speaker, as far as the 10 year comment, my hon. colleague is quite correct. For about 10 years border officers were asking that they be armed so they could deal with situations as happened yesterday. For 10 years they were ignored by the former government.

    We have taken the step to announce $101 million to begin the process of arming those border officers. There is training involved. Storage facilities have to be built. We are looking forward to as early as this coming summer to see those first armed border officers arriving in key border locations from coast to coast.

Mr. Joe Comartin (Windsor—Tecumseh, NDP):

    Mr. Speaker, it is not necessary for it to take 10 years. I know the government likes following the Bush agenda and it took 10 years to do it in the U.S. but it does not take that long in Canada.

    It will take five more unnecessary years, if the government does not do it in five, where more guns will be smuggled into this country, five more years with dangerous criminals crossing our borders.

    There are alternatives. There is another way of doing this. Why not have the government come forward with enough resources for the RCMP and provincial police forces to increase our capacity to train our guards and get them on line in five years, not ten?

Hon. Stockwell Day (Minister of Public Safety, CPC):

    Mr. Speaker, I will not suggest that my hon. colleague is trying to mislead people by continuing to say it is going to be 10 years until we have armed border officers. If the member will listen carefully, by next summer we are going to see armed border officers at the key locations across the country and that training is going to continue.

    This is not something we can do quickly. There are staffing arrangements that have to go into play. There is a three week time period to do the actual training. We want to train the trainers so we are not subject to extra cost. It is going to be carefully done. It is going to be well done. Security and prosperity at our borders is always the goal.

Canada-U.S. Border

Mr. Ed Fast (Abbotsford, CPC):

    Mr. Speaker, this past weekend in B.C.'s Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley 60 border guards walked off the job, claiming a threat to their personal security. Shockingly, the Liberals have claimed that the arming of border guards was unnecessary. However, George Scott, who is the vice-president of the Customs and Excise Union, which represents these agents, said that the border agents would not have walked off the job if they had been armed.

    Could the Minister of Public Safety please explain to the House the importance of strengthening border security?

Hon. Stockwell Day (Minister of Public Safety, CPC):

    Mr. Speaker, as I was addressing this question just a few minutes ago, I was grieved and shocked to hear the Liberal member for Scarborough—Rouge River, accompanied by his friends, refer to our border officers as “wimps”. Yesterday he stood on Parliament Hill commemorating the deaths of 10 peace officers from across the country.

     Our border officers are not wimps. Every day and every night they are on the line for us unarmed because they never received support from the Liberals. I want to hear an apology to our border officers. They are not wimps. They are brave and courageous men and women.

Points of Order

Hon. Stockwell Day (Minister of Public Safety, CPC):

    Mr. Speaker, today in question period, when I was responding to a reply about our border officers, the men and women who serve our country at the nation's frontiers, a member of the Liberal Party, the member for Scarborough—Rouge River, was shouting out and referring to our brave men and women as wimps.

    We tried to ask him informally to cease doing that.

An hon. member: Fifteen times.

Hon. Stockwell Day:

     It was recorded at least another 10 to 15 times. He continued to refer to our border officers as wimps.

    Yesterday on Parliament Hill we attended a service of commemoration for peace officers who have died in the line of duty. The men and women who serve us on our borders do so without side arms. In any given year many times they must apprehend suspects, seize drugs and there are times when they must attempt to seize illegal weapons. They have been asking for side arms and to be trained for such for 10 years but the Liberals refused to do that. We are moving ahead on that.

    Regardless of that debate, it is unacceptable that courageous men and women who serve us every day and night in this country are referred to as wimps. We would like a full and complete apology for that.

Mr. Derek Lee (Scarborough—Rouge River, Lib.):

    Mr. Speaker, I would be delighted to recognize the strength, fortitude and courage of all of the people who man our borders. I am not referring to our police or to our military. I am talking of the people who man our borders. I commend the courage of all the people who man our borders if they stay on the job.

    I was referring to those who walked off the job merely because apparently there was an American who had a firearm. There are over 200 million firearms south of the border. I admire our border service professionals who stay on the job, not those who walk off. We have never had armed border service professionals, not in the entire 138 years of this country. I admire those who stay on the job, not those who walk off.

Mr. Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay, NDP):

    Mr. Speaker, when the member for Windsor—Tecumseh was trying to ask questions about the safety situation facing our border guards, he was shouted down by the member for Scarborough—Rouge River again and again, to the point where I could not hear the question properly even though I was sitting so close to him.

    I feel this is an important issue. It is not just the disrespect to the House or the disrespect to the men and women who are out in the field. This sends the message that there are some people in Parliament who show an absolute contempt for people who put their lives on the line. For those members to stand in the House today and have the nerve to tell us that they respect people who work but call people who stand up for their legal right to refuse unsafe conditions wimps is a disgrace.

    I am speaking on a question of privilege because as a member of Parliament I feel ashamed that people like that would even stand in the House and--

Hon. John Baird (President of the Treasury Board, CPC):

    Mr. Speaker, the long-standing parliamentary tradition has been for members on all sides of the House to recognize the contribution made by those men and women who work in our public service and who put their lives on the line every day. The very sad reality is that not one Liberal member, including the member for Ottawa South, is speaking up against this disgrace. It is an absolute disgrace.