John Baird

[Foreign Affairs, November 17th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Etobicoke Centre for his leadership in this regard.

Canada and our Prime Minister have taken a strong stand in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in this crisis. When the Russian president tried to adopt a friendly go along to get along approach at the G20 summit in Brisbane, our Prime Minister would have none of it. “You need to get out of Ukraine” was the message he delivered. All Canadians can be tremendously proud of that leadership.

[Foreign Affairs, November 4th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, on human trafficking, Canadians can be very proud of the leadership of the member for Kildonan—St. Paul.

Canada is assisting ISIL's victims of sexual violence. A team of experts will arrive on the ground this week. Another team conducting investigations and victim outreach will deploy shortly after that. Humanitarian and military assistance are not exclusive. That is why this government is participating with France, with the United Kingdom, with the United States, to try to stop the terrorists from doing these barbaric practices.

As the president of France said yesterday, we will not sit idly by with these types of barbaric activities. We are trying to stop it.

[Questions on the Order Paper, October 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to part (a) of the question, this change was not preceded by consultations.

On July 8, 2014, the Minister of Foreign Affairs wrote to the chair of the commission on behalf of the Government of Canada asking the commission to consider renaming the Rockcliffe Parkway the “Sir George-Étienne Cartier Parkway”.

After discussion, the NCC board of directors voted in favour of the renaming of the parkway.

The member of Parliament for Ottawa—Orléans made the announcement on September 6, 2014, on behalf of the Government of Canada that the Rockcliffe Parkway would be renamed the Sir George-Étienne Cartier Parkway to honour one of Canada’s founding fathers.

As stated by the Member of Parliament for Ottawa—Orléans:

When…the [hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs] announced the renaming of the former Ottawa River Parkway to the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway two years ago, I felt compelled to write him to commend him for this important gesture and also to make the case for this renaming in George-Étienne Cartier’s honour….

Sir George-Étienne Cartier fought for a united country…. He was a man of vision and worked tirelessly to achieve not just Confederation, but a confederation that accommodated and respected differences. Today [September 6, 2014] is, in fact, Cartier’s 200th birthday and I do not believe that we could pay tribute to him in a more befitting manner. Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier were the two leaders of the pre-Confederation province of Canada and they both played pivotal roles in Confederation. These two Fathers of Confederation are commonly recognized together, such as in the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge, and the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport.

With regard to parts (b), (c), and (d), they are not applicable.

[Foreign Affairs, October 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, obviously working on a combat mission with the United States is an important part of the attack on terrorism in Iraq and the threat that is posed by ISIL.

One of the other things that Canada and the international community can do is to clamp down on the financing of such terrorism. This government, through listing terrorist organizations, has done a lot in recent years. An international conference will be held on November 9 in Manama, Bahrain, to look at what we can do to work together to attack the financing of ISIL. That is another example of this government getting tough on terrorism.

[National Defence, October 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, that did not come up in the meetings we had with my U.S. counterpart.

The combat mission is an important part of the mission. We also spoke of the need to go after the financing of terrorism. We also spoke of the need to combat radicalization. We also spoke of the need to bring in the Sunni Arab world, which under the leadership of President Obama has seen significant engagement.

There are many way with which we can tackle this. We can provide training and logistical support. Canada is prepared to do our share. Canada is prepared to do our share of the heavy lifting, which we think is important.

[Foreign Affairs, October 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we welcome Secretary Kerry who is visiting Ottawa and expressing his solidarity and the solidarity of the United States of America with Canada, with all Canadians, and especially paying respects to the two servicemen who passed away.

I can confirm that this was not part of the discussions we had with Secretary Kerry.

[Foreign Affairs, October 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we strongly support the people of Ukraine as they go to the polls. Canada has a long and rich tradition of working to support the Ukrainian people in their quest for full democratic rights, a democracy, and to live in freedom without interference from their neighbours.

I am very pleased to say that Canada has sent 300 election observers for these parliamentary elections. We look forward to hearing back from them about the state and quality of the elections.

This is just another example of how Canada and this government is standing behind the people of Ukraine.

[Multiculturalism, October 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I wholeheartedly agree with the member opposite. Canada is a country where pluralism is one of the cornerstones of our values. We welcome people in all parts of life, from all religious backgrounds. That is what makes Canada such a great country. I think I speak for all members of this House when I say that we find such acts despicable and not part of the Canadian way of doing things.

[Foreign Affairs, October 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. Before question period, I briefed both the Liberal and New Democratic foreign affairs critics. There was a package with some yellow powder, suspicious, sent to the Canadian mission in Istanbul. It was sent to a number of other foreign missions.

In an abundance of caution, the individual who opened it is receiving medical care. We are not sure if it is required, but it is with an abundance of caution. We have closed the mission until we can ensure the safety of all of our employees.

I would be very happy to provide any more information to the member opposite.

[Foreign Affairs, October 21st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think we have drones.