I rise with some sorrow today to speak on the motion by my NDP colleague. In my opinion, this is a waste of the House's time, because it should be taken for granted that the federal government will assume the students' legal costs.
It is not necessary to repeat the facts surrounding the brutal repression of the students at the time of the November 1997 APEC summit. I would like to say this, however: during this peaceful demonstration, the students were roughed up and subjected to strong-arm tactics as well as pepper spray.
And now what is happening? The same thing all over again. Now this government wants to use the legal system to again subject them to legal strong-arm tactics, to pepper them all over again.
On the one side, we have the Liberal government with its high-priced lawyers at $150 or $200 an hour. Then we have the RCMP with its high-priced lawyers as well. On the other side, we have the students, with no legal representation, unable to afford it because they are students.
As a lawyer, I know this. Heaven only knows, in our system, if someone does not have a lawyer, the dice are loaded against him right from the start. It seems that this government, as usual, has decided to side with Goliath against David. The brutal repression at the APEC summit reminds us of the bad old days in Eastern Europe and the systematic repression so representative of the methods of dictator Suharto himself.
Worse still, the Prime Minister had the nerve to joke about this, to say the least, troubling situation on several occasions. Again yesterday, he lightly dismissed the RCMP's heavy-handed response, which he himself ordered.
Beyond the regrettable facts I have just presented, there is also the mystery of who authorized the brutal repression so at odds with the human rights principles of all Canadians and Quebeckers.
The government justifies trade with various countries where democracy is non-existent, or very nearly so, by saying that Canada will be able to serve as an example of an open, democratic society that respects freedom of expression, but the Prime Minister is promoting a completely opposite image of the country. Instead of exporting our tolerance and our democratic system, the government is importing brutally repressive and, at the very least, reactionary tactics unfortunately still common to many countries.
We can only think that the Prime Minister himself took a personal hand in the security arrangements for visiting dignitaries. This attitude is utterly unacceptable.
For nearly two months, the government has been using the Solicitor General and the Prime Minister himself to divert opposition questions in every possible way, to conceal the truth, and to make sure Canadians do not really know what really happened in this affair.
Hiding behind phoney arguments, the government appears to be adopting the same cover-up approach as it did in the Somalia affair. This government is starting to make a habit of doing this. The desire for a cover-up is so strong that this government is refusing to help get at the truth by providing the students with assistance with their legal fees. There is only one reason for this, and I am weighing my words carefully: to conceal the truth.
By refusing to pay the students' lawyers, the Liberals are trying to muzzle the students, while the RCMP and the government are being represented by lawyers who are on the public payroll.
Again yesterday, in the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, several motions were tabled with a view to casting some light on this matter. Unfortunately, to my dismay as a young activist, the Liberal backbenchers acted like well-trained puppy dogs. When the government tells them to do this or that, they do it. They would jump off a bridge if they were told to. They have absolutely no independence, they cannot think for themselves.
Yesterday, all we wanted was for the Solicitor General and our NDP colleague to come and give their versions of the facts. The Liberal members voted against that motion. What we wanted yesterday was not to put the Solicitor General, or our NDP colleague, or any one else on trial, just to get at the truth. So, it would appear that this government is unfortunately allergic to the truth.
As I was saying earlier, it is a sad day for Canadian democracy when we have to discuss this matter in this House. As far as all Quebeckers and Canadians are concerned, funding for the students is a matter of course. It is totally absurd to have the Solicitor General keep repeating that the commission has to be allowed to do its work as the Liberals reject the commission's requests.
As last week's Maclean's pointed out, this entire business reveals the veritable regime almost of terror the Prime Minister imposes on his cabinet and on the dog and pony show of members making up his caucus. This autocratic Prime Minister, who can even joke about one of the blackest periods in Canada's recent history, brooks no dissent and no independence.
I appeal to the mind and conscience of all members of this House, regardless of their political party, in asking them to vote in favour of this motion. No partisan consideration may be invoked to justify a vote against this motion. If there were ever a time to set aside partisanship, it is today.
Rather than contemplating the reprisals the Prime Minister might heap on them, the Liberal members of this House—a number are watching me today—should contemplate the position they occupy and the primary role that is theirs to play, that of representing their electorate. It is their duty to represent them well. They must have a sense of debt toward their electors.
At the end of the day, those who oppose this motion will be marked as collaborators in this violent act of repression and will have to live with the consequences.