Prime Minister Mark Carney continued his visit to British Columbia on Monday as he toured the Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges facility on Vancouver Island.
Wearing a navy blue suit, Carney visited the facility near Nanoose Bay, about 30 kilometres north of Nanaimo, for about 2 1/2 hours, during which he toured the Royal Canadian Navy vessel Sikanni.
A statement from the Prime Minister's Office says Carney's visit aimed to highlight Canada's plan to rebuild, rearm and reinvest in the Canadian Armed Forces.
It adds Carney also used the visit to thank Canadian navy members serving on the West Coast.
He was accompanied by Navy Commander Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee and Commanding Officer Craig Piccolo from the testing facility. They also joined Carney on a tour of the facility's Range Operation Centre.
"Fire one," he mused as he peered through binoculars and pretended to fire a torpedo, drawing laughter from those present.
Carney marvelled at the strength of binoculars and joked about what he could see.
"I see a ferry," he said, quickly adding, "Not Chinese-made."
Carney's comment is in reference to BC Ferries, the private company owned by the provincial government that recently bought four ferries from a Chinese shipyard.
While the company has said the shipyard offered the best deal, it has drawn criticism from Premier David Eby and federal Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Carney left the facility by car, driving past a group of demonstrators with the Freedom From War Coalition. They held up Palestinian flags and signs calling on Canada to impose an arms embargo on Israel.
One of them, Eden Haythornthwaite, said Carney's plan to spend more money on the military runs counter to the wishes and needs of Canadians, who want to see more money spent on public housing and education among other items.
"We don't need a whole bunch of armaments," she said.
Canada's commitment under NATO's new defence spending targets for actual hardware and infrastructure could cost up to $150 billion.
Juljana Zeqollari questioned Carney's recent announcement that Canada's government plans to recognize a Palestinian state.
"In the meantime, they are sending bombs and military shipments to Israel to commit genocide," she said.
The federal government has insisted that it hasn't been allowing exports of lethal weapons to Israel — days after the release of a report that says Israeli customs data indicates Canadian arms are still being exported there regularly.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said on Friday items that the Israel Tax Authority identified in customs data as "bullets" were actually "paintball-style projectiles" that cannot be used in combat.
Israeli customs officials had identified the bullets as "munitions of war and parts thereof."
The government's statement comes three days after a coalition of Canadian advocates for Palestinians issued a report that pointed to multiple shipments from Canada to Israel, including one identified as "tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles" or parts of such vehicles.
Anand did not mention that shipment in her Friday statement, which cited three examples of claims in the report she said "are misleading and significantly misrepresent the facts.
Carney did not take questions from media and did not meet with people like Brenton Thompson and Bill MacArthur, who were hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
"That was underwhelming," Thompson said.
The tour marked a continuation of his visit to British Columbia.
On Sunday, Carney met with Eby as well as officials from the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. Carney and Eby discussed U.S. tariffs and a renewed animosity in the long-running softwood lumber dispute.
After the meetings, Carney made a surprise appearance at Vancouver's Pride Parade, marching for about a kilometre along the route beginning outside B.C. Place Stadium.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
