Yes, it is a good thing she came today. She added a significant contribution to the news conference.
I'm glad you did. It gave me a chance to take a breath.
The reason Canadians were willing to pay that money was that it's about democracy—not even ours, but it was about democracy. I can't say that Canadians are unique among peoples of the world—that would be a bit large for me to say—but I can't imagine another country caring more deeply about democracy, and because we are a generous, compassionate country, to paraphrase J.S. Woodsworth, “we want for others what we want for ourselves”. We want a democracy.
I don't think there's a country in the world that isn't represented by some Canadian somewhere in this country. It is not just an ideal; many Canadians—in this case many tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Canadians—have a personal attachment to Ukraine. For them, it's not just Canada helping an emerging democracy; it's Canada helping “my home country”.
I can tell you, Chair, that the plane that flew those 500-plus Canadians all the way to Ukraine.... Many of them—they themselves, or their parents, or their grandparents—came from Ukraine. For them, they were continuing their fight for democracy in Ukraine as Canadians, and it made them very proud. There was much credit given to Prime Minister Martin at the time, as there should have been.
We spent tens of thousands of dollars to send the foreign affairs committee to Ukraine in 2012. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars sending election observers to almost every election they have had in Ukraine. Yet the government would argue that it's not appropriate, acceptable, or an appropriate expense of Canadian taxpayers' money to study our own democracy. How absurd, to spend hundreds of thousands....
And that's just one country. Canada, has sent probably, I'll bet, hundreds of delegations in the long run to study various aspects of various things in various countries. But it's too sweet to let this go, to not continue to focus on how much money we spent on Ukraine and on how, at this moment, we're glad we did. And if it takes more money spent to help Ukrainians get the democracy they deserve, I believe Canadians want that money spent.
If that's the way Canadians feel about democracy in Ukraine, guess how they feel about it right here? Pretty strong. It really does stretch a modern democracy, when you suggest that it's democratic to bring in election law changes and not give the people who do the voting a chance to have their say in the places in which they live.
That's the part we just can't get past: how the government believes they can get away with it, and thinks they can muster logical arguments against it.
Here's what John had to say. This was also sent in to the Prime Minister's office, copied to Mr. Craig Scott, our lead critic on this. John said:
The “Fair Elections Act” threatens Canadian democracy. A signal of threat is the government's move to truncate debate on the Bill.
In an area as sensitive and complex as electoral reform, the failure to consult (Elections Canada, the public) is deeply worrying. The attempt to rush the legislation to approval during a period when news media and the public are distracted by the Sochi Olympics smacks of deliberate manipulation.
You see? It's not just me.
John continues:
Any measures which weaken the authority of Elections Canada to protect us from fraud and manipulation, which muzzle its voice whether regarding basic electoral practices and regulations or regarding investigations and possible prosecutions injure the public's right to information, to adequate protections and are likely to delay and obscure effective prosecution of those who would undermine clean and transparent elections.
He doesn't sound like a clown to me. He doesn't sound like the participant of a gong show.
Yes, Chair.