It's a question and it's prefaced by a comment.
Mr. Cooper and one of the witnesses, Ms. Basnicki, raised the Khadr matter and Mr. Cooper asked rhetorically, what the priorities of the government are. He said they seem to be a bit skewed and it makes one openly question the priorities of the government.
What I would say to that is simply that the priorities are in defending the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and standing by the charter, and that when the government is complicit in the torture and violation of an individual, the government should take responsibility for that complicit behaviour. It is important not to conflate either in this committee or in front of these witnesses the difference between terrorism that occurred in Afghanistan and torture that this government was complicit with in Guantanamo. After two consecutive defeats in the Supreme Court of Canada on this very issue, when Mr. Cooper's party ostensibly believes in reducing court backlog and courtroom delay, it really begs the logical question as to why one would return to the courts, which we all seem to agree are clogged, with yet another likely failed charter claim.
Apropos that, Ms. Basnicki, if we can agree that addressing court backlogs is an important imperative of this bill, is settlement of cases a way of reducing court backlog?