IN THE HOUSE — If we falter now, ISIL will grow in strength

Excerpt from remarks by Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod in the House of Commons on Thursday.

IN THE HOUSE — Mr. Speaker, it is certainly an honour to rise in the House today. The debate we are having is one of our most solemn responsibilities. We are talking about our government’s motion that seeks an endorsement from the
House of Commons for the government’s decision to contribute military assets
to the fight against ISIL.

As the motion before the House clearly outlines, the terrorist group known
as ISIL has repeatedly called on its members to target Canada and Canadians
at home and abroad. It is clear that ISIL poses a clear and active threat to
the people of the Middle East, especially members of vulnerable religious
and ethnic minority groups. ISIL is boastful in posting videos to the
Internet of its brutal and barbaric campaigns of sexual violence, murder and
intimidation.

Canada cannot sit on the sidelines while innocent men, women and children
are slaughtered by a genocidal death cult that also wants to bring brutal
violence to our shores. The Prime Minister has made it clear that unless
ISIL is confronted with strong and direct force, it will continue to grow
and expand its territory. This is a threat to not only international peace
and security, but also a direct threat to Canada and Canadians.

The situation is improving from last spring when ISIL was spreading at a
terrifying pace. ISIL has more or less been halted and pushed back at the
margins. This is in large part because of the breadth and intensity of the
international opposition against ISIL not only in the west but throughout
the Arab world as well.

ISIL continues to attract jihadi terrorists from around the globe and is
attempting to increase its network of jihadi forces. ISIL continues to
threaten nations like Canada and inspire attacks across the globe in many
western nations. The Islamic state has clearly indicated that it will
continue to target Canadians, Canada and our western allies that believe in
standing up to its barbaric form of Islam. It is a disturbed, perverted
ideology and anyone who does not accept ISIL’s form of religion it believes
should be killed. It is as self-evident to it as it is incomprehensible,
barbaric and evil to us, but it is no idle threat.

ISIL does not just kill its enemies in the battlefield; it targets
journalists, workers, and innocent men, women and children. There have been
horrific and disturbing attacks against vulnerable and peaceful, ethnic and
religious minorities. We know about these incidents because it brags about
them. We must prevent and contain this peril before it leads to the
entrenchment of repressive rule across the region.

Extending the current Canadian Armed Forces mission is not an impulsive or
knee-jerk reaction, but a decision borne of necessity to protect Canada, an
acknowledgement that we must continue to fight with our allies and partners
in the pursuit of Canada’s national interests to protect Canada and
Canadians from an evil death cult that has declared war on all of us.

Our experience over the past few years has shown that we cannot expect quick
and decisive victories, but it is no less necessary to act when confronted
with the savagery of the enemy simply because we cannot affix an end point
to the mission. It does not mean that we should walk away from our
responsibilities as an international citizen. If we falter now, ISIL will
continue to gain in strength, increase its brutality and ruthlessness, and
consolidate its territory. This would plunge the Middle East into new depths
of volatility, chaos and bloodshed. If ISIL’s fundamentalism is not dealt
with soon, we risk seeing it spread. We simply cannot allow that to happen.

There is not an either/or, and we are hearing that in the debate tonight
when the NDP talk about humanitarian assistance. It is what the opposition
parties would have us believe. We have been committed to humanitarian
assistance. As the Prime Minister has said in the House, in the past six
months we have helped to feed 1.7 million people in Iraq, provide shelter
and relief supplies to 1.25 million children and give education to at least
500,000 children.

It has been said time and again that in order to provide humanitarian
relief, there has to be stability. To be honest, the preference of the
people who need humanitarian relief is to not have that need but to live in
their countries in peace and return to their homes.

We have help to support 200,000 refugees in Iraq with food, water, shelter
and protection. Canada is the fifth largest donor of aid to Iraq, and the
sixth largest donor of aid to Syria. Through these efforts, we continue to
provide one of the largest per capita donations of aid in the world.

Our participation in this multinational mission is in Canada’s national
interest. This much is clear. Indeed, it is a broad international coalition
of more than 60 partners, approximately 30 of which contribute to the
military effort led by the United States which has coalesced to confront
ISIL.

Canada is collaborating with some of our closest allies and partners,
including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and
Australia to degrade and defeat ISIL. Moreover, Middle Eastern countries are
playing a vital role in the coalition. Again, this demonstrates this is not
just a western conflict against Islam. We have partners from many countries
in the Middle East. Rather, it is a fight that pits broad international
concerns for Iraq and Syria, regional stability and humanitarian assistance
against murderous extremism.

That is why I will be supporting the government’s motion before the House. I
support our continued deployment of Canadian military assets to fight
against ISIL and terrorists aligned with ISIL, using air strike capability
to bomb ISIL in Iraq and Syria. I support the government’s decision to
extend this mission to March 30, 2016. I support the government’s position
that there should be no deployment of troops in a ground combat role.

I, like all parliamentarians, offer my resolute and wholehearted support and
thanks to the brave men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces who stand on
guard for all of us.