Mr. Speaker, some time ago I had occasion to ask the minister about the issue of the Helms-Burton bill dealing with an embargo against goods from Cuba. I should like to introduce my question this evening by reminding the representative of the ministry about some of the facts of the bill.
We in Canada share the interest of American legislators and Americans generally in seeing Cuba begin to respect human rights and to open up its economy to forces from outside so that it has a liberal, open economy for the benefit of all Cuban citizens. What we are talking about here is the methodology whereby this change may be obtained.
We believe, it seems to me in our government, in a form of open trading whereby we can liberalize trade relationships by having relations with one another. The United States, for some reason not difficult to understand because it is rooted in U.S. domestic politics, has chosen in respect of Cuba an embargo that flies in the face of its policies with respect to other countries and that seeks to penalize the Cuban government and the Cuban people for the fact that they are unwilling to conform to U.S. standards and practices.
We do not deny that the United States has the right to embargo Cuba if that is what its domestic policies call for it to do. What we object to, what I will ask for further information on and what I asked in the question I earlier posed to the minister was what we were doing in Canada to ensure that the measures being adopted by the American congress do not proceed in a way that would violate international law, violate international obligations of the United States to Canada and violate our rights to conduct our relationships with Cuba and the Cuban people in a way that we can ensure Canadian policies and Canadian law are respected.
The bill on which I asked the question, known colloquially as the Helms-Burton bill, has in it several items that are very problematic to us as Canadians. They prohibit U.S. persons from extending financing to businesses that traffic in property confiscated by the Cuban government. A U.S. person is defined in the bill in such a way that it could extend to subsidiaries in Canada. It denies entry into the United States of persons, individuals or shareholders of corporations who traffic in U.S. property. It gives to the United
States courts the jurisdiction to decide compensation claims for property confiscated by any foreign government.
In all respects we have serious problems with these propositions. It represents in many ways a secondary boycott which the United States has said in the past it totally disapproves of in respect of the Arab boycott of Israel. It represents extraterritorial measures against Canadian corporations carrying on lawful business in this country and with Cuba. It gives to the United States courts a jurisdiction that frankly would introduce extraordinarily difficult measures in respect of dealing with the United States in United States courts.
These measures reflect a view of the United States congress that is willing to take measures against the interests of the United States in many respects, against international law, and against its international obligations to Canada and other nations. As such, it is a dangerous precedent because it reflects a sense of the United States power which says it is above the rules it has set and in which all of us participate.
I would be anxious to know what measures the Government of Canada can take to tell the U.S. Congress what we can do to protect ourselves. How can we use the Extraterritorial Measures Act which we already have? How can we respond to Congress to let the U.S. know that we in this country intend to pursue our rightful place in the international community in a way that respects our interests and our proper commercial relationships with a friendly country?