House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2004, with 43% of the vote.
Points Of Order May 19th, 2000
Madam Speaker, during Oral Question Period, I gave some figures to my colleague from St. John's East and I would like to correct them.
I said $16 million was destined for the victims of the crisis in Ethiopia. To be exact, I should have said the figure was $16 million for the past three years, which is nearly $45 million.
Ethiopia May 19th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for raising that extremely important subject.
To date, Canada has given approximately $16 million. We know there is a catastrophe going on there and we intend to continue to play a role on behalf of all Canadian people.
Committees Of The House May 16th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. My hon. friend is not alleging that all the people in the Mulroney cabinet were separatists. There were three. I think she will be kind enough to admit that.
Committees Of The House May 16th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I do not know how long the hon. member has been speaking, but I think it has been well over three hours. I noticed that she was sitting on the side of a chair, which the rules bar us from doing. I think it is outrageous that the hon. member would do that.
Sierra Leone May 3rd, 2000
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.
To our knowledge no Canadian has been abducted or hurt in the matter he refers to. Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms the violence that is occurring in Sierra Leone. We call on the rebel leaders there to comply with the Lomé accord.
Yesterday in London the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, including our own Minister of Foreign Affairs, called on the RUF to disarm in accordance with the Lomé accord. We earnestly hope they will do so.
Crimes Against Humanity Act April 14th, 2000
Madam Speaker, does the hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake, who stressed what he regards as the financial unaccountability of the international court, accept the fact that there is an assembly of states parties that will elect the prosecutor and judges for the court on the basis of established qualifications, that the assembly will be able to remove judges for improper conduct, will have management oversight of budgets and will audit the operations of the court?
Does this international court not have a good deal of accountability? I would contend that it has a lot more accountability than the present ad hoc tribunals do, at least the one in Arusha. Perhaps the member is aware that there have been all kinds of administrative and other problems with the ad hoc tribunal operating in Arusha.
Is it not more cost effective to have a standing court rather than continually reinventing the wheel, such as we have had to do in the case of the ad hoc tribunals?
The member said that we were buying a pig in a poke. That is a good metaphor but where is the pig and where is the poke? It seems to me that this court is something that has been shrieked for by what has been happening around the world, which the member knows very well. I would urge him to reconsider what he said about the lack of accountability in the bill.
Crimes Against Humanity Act April 14th, 2000
Madam Speaker, the hon. member who just spoke indicates it is one hand or the other for him, but does he not think that there is much that is positive in the bill?
Anybody who has been, for example, to Rwanda has seen the bodies of people as I have in the schools that are still there. Does he not think that we need something like this that will help us to bring to justice people who commit these crimes outside Canada?
I know the member admires Václav Havel too. Was this not the kind of thing that President Havel was talking about when he spoke to the House not so long ago? What would it take to tip the balance for the hon. member so that he could support the bill?
Crimes Against Humanity Act April 14th, 2000
Madam Speaker, I listened with interest to the hon. member for Wanuskewin.
Does he not think that Bill C-19 deals with some very important issues of implementing a process by which people cannot commit crimes against humanity? Genocide and war crimes are defined in the bill. Is he suggesting to the House that this bill is not trying to deal with an extremely important question in the world today?
I do not know if the member was here when President Václav Havel from the Czech Republic was here. He talked about the fact that in the new century the nation-state concept was giving ground to wider responsibilities. From everything I have read and know of him, I suggest that Václav Havel would be supportive of this.
What is in the bill that any citizen of goodwill in Canada or another country would not support? With Kosovo, Rwanda and with all of the catastrophes we have seen around the world, this bill is something all of us should support, not just members on this side of the House.
Supply March 21st, 2000
Mr. Speaker, further to what the member for Calgary Southeast just said, I know that he does not want to deny people with disabilities money any more than we do.
Where would he draw the line? Could he amplify on what he has just said in terms of these grants?
Drugs February 28th, 2000
Mr. Speaker, the losses are far too great as my colleague knows. However, we are highly regarded in the world for having a balanced approach, namely, enforcement and education, and then reduction. In this hemisphere we have the lead in the development of the multilateral evaluation mechanism, an initiative by 34 OAS countries which is reducing the pressure in the drug control area.
Our Prime Minister and foreign minister initiated the foreign ministers drug dialogue, which has had enormous success during the past year in dealing with our neighbours in this hemisphere.