Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 8th, 2009

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

The people I mentioned today would be the best witnesses. I, myself, was at Durban. So I am even a witness.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Yes, but I would like the names of witnesses who would corroborate what you are saying. Could you give us their names again?

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

There is the president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Keith Landy; a representative of the NGO B'nai Brith, David Matas; members of NGOs who were in attendance; the head of our delegation, Hedy Fry; and the person who led the delegation, the ambassador to the United Nations, Paul Heinbecker.

I should also point out that Allan Baker claimed to have told Mr. Heinbecker to leave Durban, but Mr. Heinbecker said that he never spoke to Mr. Baker. That means that, out of all the witnesses Mr. Baker said he contacted, none of them backs up his story. All the witnesses—

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

If the government refuses to accept your testimony, which it has done up to this point, would you recommend that we carry on and that we hear from witnesses, in order to restore your reputation?

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I am prepared to give you a list of witnesses. I would have preferred that—

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

It does not look like things will go that way.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I would have preferred that the Conservative members admit openly and directly that they were wrong, that the flyer was prejudicial towards me, and that that be the end of it. But if not, I can give you a list of witnesses from Canada or abroad who could corroborate what I am saying.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I would like that list of witnesses, please.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Okay.

[The Acting Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

That is the end of our meeting.

Yes, a point of order.

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I know we said we were going to leave at 12:30, and you wanted to head off a little earlier, but there was at least one question unanswered by Mr. Poilievre. He wanted to know what the date was of the apology by Mr. Ignatieff. It was April 14, 2008. It was in the Toronto Star, under the big headline “Ignatieff apologizes for Israeli war crime comment...it was an error.”

But he is not interested in facts; he wants to perpetuate falsehoods.

[The Acting Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you for that.

A point of order.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Yes, in response to that, Mr. Ignatieff did not use the term “apology”. That was the word in the headline, but it was not the word in Mr. Ignatieff's--

[The Acting Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

As the Speaker would say, I think this is debate and I think we should just leave it at that.

I will close the meeting. Thank you.