Martin's Past Choices Create Dire Consequences for Canadian Military says MP Jay Hill

March 5, 2004

Fort St. John, BC - Senior National Defence Critic for the Official Opposition, Jay Hill, said today that while he welcomes the deployment of Canadian troops to Haiti, he is concerned that the near-bankrupt Canadian Forces will not recover from the additional drain the mission will impose upon its scarce personnel and resources.

"Canada should do what it can to assist Haitians in their time of crisis. This is precisely the kind of mission that the men and women of our armed forces trained for and they are eager to carry out their duties." said Hill. "Yet bringing peace to Haiti will be a lengthy process and Paul Martin has robbed our military of the resources necessary to make a substantial, long-term commitment to restoring the peace needed to re-build Haiti"

Hill he wonders how Canadian military staff were able to scrounge up the 450 personnel, less than half of which are front-line troops, that will be deployed to Haiti for three months, when they previously made it clear to the Prime Minister that they have barely 500 soldiers to spare for overseas missions.

"Paul Martin cut the Canadian Forces so deep when he was finance minister that now we're scraping the bone. What price will our exhausted and overstretched personnel pay? How will we respond to the next international or domestic crisis, including Mr. Martin's surprise pledge to leave a contingent of troops in Afghanistan after August?" asked Hill.

"He can't have it both ways," Hill added. "The Prime Minister can't brag to Canadians that he slew the deficit yet not take responsibility for the impact of his $20-billion in cuts to Canada's military. The Canadian Forces needs an immediate infusion of cash for equipment, recruitment and training in order to adequately respond to the next international or domestic crisis."

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