Foreign Affairs Committee on Oct. 4th, 2006

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

Despite my recent motion, if the other parties are willing to adopt the motion without amending it, I would be willing to drop the amendments that I wanted to bring forth so that we could vote on this question. The motion doesn’t raise any problems.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Borys.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

I'd like to make a friendly amendment to the motion: that we schedule an extra committee meeting the week after the recess to address this particular issue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Madam McDonough.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Yes, I certainly accept that. I think it's a reflection of the sense of urgency that's appropriate for us to express here. What's been called “a genocide in slow motion” is very quickly going to start to be understood to be a genocide speeded up. All of the statistics on what's been happening the last two months make that clear. After the Rwanda horrors, for us to not respond in a more urgent fashion I think is really unfortunate.

I totally accept it as a friendly amendment. I think it is appropriate for us to agree to have not a great big study but a session, where we can have an update from the appropriate officials from CIDA and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

I know that everyone's schedules are pretty full. We now have the human rights committee up and running. I know they're meeting on Tuesday.

Monday is booked, Tuesday is booked, Wednesday morning is caucus, and we have this on Wednesday afternoon. It could potentially be on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. I don't know what other people think.

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Call the question, Mr. Chair.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Could we have the question? There's been a suggestion made.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

All right.

We do have the one other date there, but we have the motion, as amended, that if need be, we plan an extra meeting for this.

(Motion as amended agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Madame Bourgeois, are we going to be able to get through this one?

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Yes, Mr. Chairman. I think the motion is quite clear.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Chair, is this clock accurate?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

No, it's three minutes fast.

We have a notice of motion. The problem with this is that when we started our committee we said to leave two or three minutes for committee business, and I don't feel we're giving enough time to debate some of these motions.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Chair, I call for adjournment. We have a duty in the House.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

We don't agree with this. We have seven minutes left. We can do it in two minutes.

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Madame Bourgeois, maybe you could make the intervention, and then we can vote.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

I think that the motion is quite clear. We simply have to be up to date and invite interveners or non-governmental organizations that are involved, directly or indirectly, in Afghanistan to come forth and help us gain some understanding of what Canada is doing as part of its reconstruction and aid strategy in Afghanistan.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

What are you asking for here? Are you asking for one meeting?

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

It had also been suggested that the committee hold one or two meetings with people who work in Afghanistan, because this hadn’t been done for some time. My motion simply restated what we have already discussed. It reflects our wish to be kept informed as to what is happening in Afghanistan.

Than, why not use the NGO or experts who work in the field to find out what is happening?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

You say “as soon as possible” and “immediately”, and some of these things are kind of open-ended--

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

As far as I’m concerned, it will be after one week break. If I remember well, we have a meeting scheduled and no agenda.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We do have Minister O'Connor coming, as well as Rick Hillier, but that is not what this motion addresses. This motion addresses NGOs and other organizations.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Precisely. There is a big difference between the Minister of National Defence and the NGOs that work in the field. I’d like us to invite the NGO people who work in the field.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Mr. Menzies.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

I have some concerns with the final wording of this. I would like to propose an amendment, if I could. After the words “democratic development”, remove the rest and replace with “should address how reconstruction and aid strategies can be used as a tool to promote democratic development”. I think that fits into what we're studying here.