My question is directed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I say that because, with respect, I want to make sure that he understands the need for him to answer this question and not his colleague.
We know Mohamed Fahmy is stuck in legal limbo in Egypt. He's free but not free. Right now he's obviously not in jail, but he's not able to come back home as the minister knows. He surrendered his Egyptian passport because he was asked to do that so he could be deported to Canada, but now the Egyptian authorities have lost his Canadian passport. That is now established; there's no question about it. I have all the documents here, and I'm sure the minister has access to them as well.
The passport is the standard basis of identification in Egypt, and Mr. Fahmy needs a passport. It's not just to travel within Egypt—which he's allowed to do—or to rent a car, or even to get an apartment, but also to marry. He's been trying to get married to his financée and he needs a passport to apply to do that. The government took three months to send Mr. Fahmy a letter rejecting his application for a new passport even though the Egyptian prosecutor and the police say his old one is lost, which is one of the issues, they claim.
We know that the passport order in the legislation gives the government authority to grant a passport in this case. So this is a very straightforward question for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Fahmy is a Canadian citizen, as you know. He's entitled to a passport. Why haven't you granted him one—or will you?