By Tim Ryan
Conservative MP James Bezan was on X on Jan. 10 going after the Trudeau Liberals about their record on defence spending and support for the Canadian Forces.
“The Trudeau Liberals have destroyed our military,” Bezan tweeted.
It is probably safe to say Bezan didn’t expect the blowback from Canadian Forces veterans that came next.
There were a couple of hundred comments pointing out how Bezan and the Harper Conservatives were far worse when it came to the Canadian Forces as well as the treatment of veterans.
Bezan was blasted by the commentators as a liar who was part of the Harper government which not only went after veterans but made significant cuts to the Canadian Forces. (Bezan was appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in September 2013 as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence.)
Readers may recall the Conservative government’s court action in which $700,000 was spent to ensure the Harper administration was under no obligation to provide veterans with any special treatment. Pensions as well as veterans programs were cut.
And who can forget Harper minister Julian Fantino’s insults to a delegation of veterans as well as cutting jobs at veterans affairs. Bezan was silent throughout all of this, seen by a number in the defence community as failing to support veterans and the Canadian Forces.
Harper also ignored the NATO spending guideline despite signing on to the initiative in 2014. Instead, the Conservatives instituted significant cuts to the Canadian Forces budget. At the time, journalist Murray Brewster reported that involved $2.5 billion in cuts. In addition, the Harper government postponed $3.1-billion in capital spending on equipment, Brewster reported.
Interestingly, Bezan in his tweet was citing a March 18, 2024 article Jack Granatstein wrote for the Conservative-linked Macdonald Laurier Institute. The article lays blame on all of the problems the Canadian military has faced since the Second World War squarely on the Liberals. Granatstein conveniently avoids any criticism of the Harper era in his article.
