Foreign Affairs Committee on March 12th, 2012

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, you spoke earlier very eloquently about the importance of strengthening security in the hemisphere.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I'm not getting translation here—

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Okay. I'll do it in English.

You've spoken eloquently about the need to strengthen security in the hemisphere, in the Americas, with which we agree. We also know that one of the main security issues in the Americas is the illicit transfer of arms.

Now, the OAS has developed, under the leadership of Canada, a great tool called CIFTA, the convention to control the transfer of arms. Yet Canada is one of the few countries that still has not ratified the convention. Do you know why?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

In this specific case, I don't know what our hesitation would be.

[A voice]

We'll have to get back—

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Yes, we'll have to get back to you on that, because I'm not aware of this.

I can say that transnational crime involves arms, as you say. It involves people-smuggling—often children—and of course drugs are also huge. We have a range of programs to address that—

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Yes, absolutely. I'm really sorry to have to interrupt you, but I want to let my colleague speak.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

We'll get back to you on the specifics.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Ms. Sims.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Thank you.

I want to thank the ministers and staff for coming here to answer our questions. I really appreciate it.

I also want to acknowledge Minister Ablonczy's staff and the minister herself for being very open in giving us briefings. That always helps us to get a better understanding of what is going on. I really wanted to get that down on the record, so thank you for that.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I'll pass that on.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Thank you, Minister.

As you know, this Friday marks one year for the detention of Mr. Tepper. I know it's a very complex case. One of the disturbing things that keeps coming back to me over and over again is that this government knew that there was a red warrant for Mr. Tepper, yet he was allowed to travel on an official business trip on a government mission when at the same time we knew that the Algerian country right next to where he was going could end up arresting him.

Did anyone think about letting him know what could happen to him?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

My understanding was that there was an attempt to have a conversation about that, but that would be through Public Safety and the RCMP, so I'm not able to speak on their behalf on that—

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

I appreciate that.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

—but you want might to pursue that with them and see if you can get more detail.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

I have read a few statements that Minister Toews has made in public, saying that it's not their normal practice to do that, but because this was an official mission that this gentleman was going on, it seems to me that we do have some obligation towards a Canadian citizen. I know how hard it is on the family right now.

Minister, I really want to move on to the e-passports that are coming next year. You have to remember that I'm the person who still hasn't—

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

If I may, Mr. Chairman, in this case there was not an official government mission. I just want to clarify that. We've clarified this over and over, and I just want to put that on the record.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Oh, okay. My understanding is that he was with the provincial mission...? Okay.

Anyway, about e-passports, as I said, we're talking about a person who hasn't discovered online banking yet, so to think about e-passports is a real stretch.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I'm the same way.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

I don't have to tell you that there are Canadian families who are really struggling. The cost of a passport, at $120, for the average family that might have three or four kids, means that a significant burden is put on them, and especially now. When my kids were younger, you could travel to the States without a passport. I can even remember travelling to Mexico through the States without a passport. It was so much easier then.

How can we justify this fee increase when Canadian families are really struggling to make ends meet? It once again ends up being a burden for the people who already struggle.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You can answer the question, but we'll finish with that. That's all the time we have.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

I have at least five more.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I'm always available. If you'd like, we could go to Tim Hortons and get a coffee and chat.

I appreciate that this is not an easy expense for any family. The way Passport Canada is set up is that it's a cost-recovery agency. It can charge only enough to provide the service. It's not paid for out of general government revenues. We certainly try to ensure that they keep their fees to no more than is absolutely required.

The good news is that they'll be ten-year passports—but that doesn't help the children, as you pointed out—and that the e-passports also will make the security of the passport better.

The only other alternative would be to subsidize it out of general government revenue. There are many Canadians who don't travel abroad because they can't afford to, and it would be, I think, wrong to ask them to subsidize those who do.

I appreciate your comments. It is a significant imposition on families, but there is a cost to providing the service. I'm certainly not insensitive to the pressures that are put on the middle-class family.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

We're going to wrap up with Mr. Dechert, for five minutes.