Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast for the question. I will take notice of the specific facts of the case he has raised and we will see what we can find out. If he will allow me, I will turn to the larger issue that he raised about the passports and the attack in Jordan a week ago.
After the passports of the two persons making the attack had been reported as being Canadian, our consular officials in Jordan were allowed by the Jordanian authorities to see the passports and they then concluded they were forgeries. We have since obtained physical possession of the passports and submitted them to forensic examination by our own Canadian experts. This scientific examination has confirmed that the passports are indeed forgeries and further that they were manufactured from materials not available in Canada.
As the prime minister and foreign minister have stated, we have registered our concerns loudly and clearly to the Israeli government. We have recalled our ambassador from Israel, and that is the most serious step in international law and diplomacy short of breaking off diplomatic relations altogether.
The Israeli foreign minister has apologized to us on behalf of his government and has undertaken to set up processes, in consultation with our government, that will ensure that Canadian passports are not again misused in violation of international law and Canadian law.
We wish to repeat what we have already said in the last several days. There has been no prior knowledge of or complicity in this whole incident on the part of the Canadian government. Any speculation to the contrary is false, and I know the hon. member is not part of this speculation. It is also thoroughly irresponsible in so far as it might endanger Canadians travelling in the Middle East at this time.