Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
As it's been a little bit of time since we had that meeting and discussion, I just wish to reiterate some of my comments to bring us up to date. This is relevant to the motion put forward by Mr. Dewar.
I'll just read that motion so that we have clarity on the issue:
That, in the context of its study on the treatment of Canadians abroad, the Committee report the following recommendations to the House of Commons calling on the government to: recognize its constitutional duty to protect Canadians abroad; enact legislation to ensure the consistent and non-discriminatory provision of consular services to all Canadians in distress; and create an independent ombudsperson's office responsible for monitoring the government's performance and ordering the Minister of Foreign Affairs to give protection to a Canadian in distress if the Minister has failed to act in a timely manner.
I also want to reiterate my concerns for this motion. My concerns for this motion are on multiple levels.
First and foremost, to the first point, “to recognize its constitutional duty”, I disagree. I do not believe there is any reference in the Constitution of Canada, from its latest to its most primary elements--the capitulations of Montreal to the capitulations of Quebec City to the Treaty of Paris, furthermore, taking it all the way back to its basic, core roots. I intend to demonstrate that as best I can.
Also, on the “constitutional duty to protect Canadians abroad”, once again, I find no reference, from the information that I have, in the written Constitution or the implied Constitution, going back and channelling all the way back through all the written documentation. I'm going to be presenting and reviewing quite a bit of this.
The other concern I have is that on the basis of what I believe is misinformation, it also calls for “ordering the Minister of Foreign Affairs to give protection”. I take great umbrage to the idea and the concept of ordering constitutional application when it is not there and ordering the Minister of Foreign Affairs to somehow subscribe to something that is not there.
I believe, in the context of this motion, that my concern is for the greater good. And I hope that people don't feel that I'm making an objection to this and raising this as a frivolous and vexatious factor. I'm taking that wording, of course, from the other bill we're working on, Bill C-300. But I do want to draw the parallel with that. The parallel is that as a government, and certainly one in a minority government position, we are vulnerable to motions and bills that have serious problems. Of course, being in a minority government situation, I hope people can understand that we have a duty to the citizens of Canada to stand up and speak out and try to effect change as best we can in a minority position. With that, I want to be at least very thorough in the discussion and in the discussion about my concerns with this motion.
There is an object lesson here, too, for Bill C-300 as well as for some of the other bills, frankly, that are in front of Parliament. They are bills that under a majority government would never see the light of day. But in a minority government situation, they might be forced through by an overly eager cabal of opposition parties in an attempt to embarrass the government more than to bring forward good legislation. We certainly have been witness to and have been talking to many witnesses on Bill C-300. here in committee. We're hearing not only from witnesses from the major mining sector but also from people who represent the major mining sector and were very prominent politicians in their own right.
I refer, of course, to the ambassador to the United States, a Liberal, and Pattison, who was a Liberal minister. They abhor what is happening in the opposition party's ranks in trying to bring through Bill C-300., which is so flawed as to be dangerous to--