Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to both the Conservatives and the NDP, and we must realize that Iran is engaged in widespread systematic assaults on human rights and religious freedom. It is the country that jails reporters and bloggers the most. It continues to target and imprison lawyers and victimize their human rights and persecute ethnic communities and religious minorities.
My question to my hon. colleague is the following. Instead of Canada being supportive of the people in Iran and being there with them, we did the worst thing we could have done and closed down the visa section. The visa section would have given the people of Iran the opportunity to come to Canada, to talk to us and engage us with regard to civil democracy and civil movements. After the two positions in the embassy have been eliminated, I am wondering if my colleague could add his voice or tell me what his party thinks when people cannot get a visitor visa to come to Canada and have to travel to Turkey to do that. It is a travesty by any means, and the Conservative government should be held to account.