Mr. Speaker, the peaceful protesters gathered, charged with a fervent belief in democracy. They stood tall and voiced their opposition to tyranny, dictatorship and the denial of fundamental human rights. When the risk of embarrassment was too much to handle, the dictatorial leader ordered the police to move in and use excessive force to silence those students who dared speak out against the regime.
I am not talking about Tiananmen Square, I am talking about Vancouver. We cannot take the incidents that transpired at the APEC conference lightly, for the precedence they establish is frightening. Canadians gathered to use their fundamental human rights to raise the awareness of atrocities taking place in other countries. Rather than extol the virtues of democracy, the Prime Minister and the foreign affairs minister decided to make the dictators feel at home by sanitizing the scene and shutting down protesters.
The Prime Minister is concerned about what legacy he will leave Canada. He will be remembered as the leader who called a democratic election in his own country a joke and revoked Canadian civil rights in order to satisfy a brutal dictator. What a legacy.