James Bezan, Member of Parliament for Selkirk–Interlake–Eastman, says he is honoured to continue serving as the Conservative shadow minister for national defence—a role he’s held consistently since 2015, with the exception of a brief post-election stint in 2019.
“I’m happy that our position has always been that we will, as Conservatives, always put Canada first; our safety, our security. And our national defence is paramount to what we do as a country, and we’ll always fight for those who don the uniform and volunteer to fight for all of us as Canadians,” notes Bezan.
Pushing Arctic priorities and NORAD upgrades
Bezan says the Conservative defence platform remains focused on protecting Canadian sovereignty in the North. That includes NORAD modernization and establishing three new permanent Arctic bases in CFB Churchill, Nunavut, and Nunavik. These would serve as forward air and naval operations hubs, offering quicker response capabilities to threats from nations like Russia and China.
He says Churchill, in particular, could be a key location for naval deployment, especially as Canada expands its icebreaker fleet for both the Coast Guard and the Navy.
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Personnel shortages and housing crisis in the forces
Another major concern, Bezan says, is the Canadian Armed Forces’ recruitment and retention crisis, compounded by inadequate housing for members stationed across the country.
“We have a lot of our Armed Forces members who are what they call living rough because they don’t have adequate housing on bases. They don’t have access to affordable housing in the communities where they’re stationed. And so they’re either couch surfing, living in tents, or some of them are even... homeless. And these are currently serving members, and that should never happen,” adds Bezan.
He says the opposition will continue pressing the federal government to invest in housing for CAF members at every base nationwide.
Support for Manitoba colleagues in new shadow roles
Bezan also offers congratulations to fellow Manitoba MPs appointed to new shadow cabinet positions.
He notes that Dan Mazier is taking over the health file, while Raquel Dancho has moved from public safety to the industry portfolio—a significant shift given the breadth of sectors covered.
“As the Manitoba team and as shadow ministers, as all of us as members of caucus, we will continue to hold this Liberal government’s feet to the fire. We will cooperate where it is in the best interest of Canada. But where we disagree with them, we will hold them to account and bring forward other ideas, which is our responsibility as the official opposition,” adds Bezan.