Conservative Shadow Minister for National Defence Reinstated

"I was honoured to receive the phone call from Erin O'Toole."

That's James Bezan, Member of Parliament for Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman, who was just announced as reconvening his role in the Conservative Party as Shadow Minister for National Defence.

Bezan explains he's maintained that this is a portfolio that he's extremely passionate about. He says our rights and freedoms that we enjoy as Canadians were paid for with the personal sacrifices of members of the Canadian Armed Forces, both past and present.

"They serve us and this is my chance to serve them back and trying to ensure that we have the right policies in place," continues Bezan. "The missions properly vetted and, of course, trying to get them the equipment they need to do the jobs that the Government of Canada account tasks them with all the time."

Bezan says those jobs include serving overseas in missions such as those in Ukraine, Latvia or in Iraq, or performing domestic missions recently held with our military members serving in long-term care facilities in Quebec and Ontario, or fighting forest fires in Alberta and B.C.

Erin O’Toole, Leona Alleslev and James Bezan."Erin O'Toole, of course, is a veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force," notes Bezan. "I've known him for years and consider him a good friend. I will be sitting down with him to go over the policies that we've had as a party. I've been in this portfolio now as Shadow Minister for the past five years. I want to brief him up on what's been happening, but more importantly, I'd like to get a read of where he visualizes the platform in the upcoming federal election, pivoting to where we want to position ourselves as the Conservative Party in support of our Canadian armed forces and providing support to our allies around the world."