Liberals choose to protect defence minister who has consistently failed service women

OTTAWA – The Liberal government is filibustering at the Standing Committee on National Defence to protect the Minister of National Defence who has repeatedly failed to act effectively to address sexual misconduct in the military.

“Today’s report has made it abundantly clear that the Minister of Defence failed service women and men who continue to face sexual misconduct in the military,” said NDP defence critic Randall Garrison. “Instead of addressing this lack of leadership and working to make sure service people are protected, the Liberals on the defence committee have chosen to filibuster in support of the Minister. In effect, the Liberals have chosen their own party’s political fortunes over the lives of the women and men serving in the Canadian Armed Forces.”

Not only does the filibuster do a disservice to Canadians Armed Forces (CAF) members, it also blocks other important work being done by the committee. Before the filibuster began, the committee was close to completing its work on mental health within the Canadian Armed Forces. Garrison says this delay is inexcusable given that one serving CAF member dies by suicide each month.

“Instead of improving conditions for all CAF members, the Liberal are actively preventing the committee from issuing a report on the failure of this minister and the Prime Minister to make sure women can serve equally in the Canadian Forces,” said Garrison. “This report would have provided important information about the failure to investigate sexual misconduct allegations against the former Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Vance while he was the person who was in charge of rooting out sexual misconduct.”

More than 8800 complaints of sexual assault and sexual harassment were filed during the five-year history of Operation HONOUR overseen by General Vance and Minister Sajjan.

“How can service people believe things will improve when the government doesn’t even want to hear the facts? The minister has let service members down at every turn and it’s shameful to see the Liberals at the Defence Committee side with him instead of those he was responsible for protecting,” added Garrison.