Mr. Speaker, this month under the rotation rules Canada assumes the presidency of the United Nations Security Council. The council is the key constitutional organ of the United Nations, but its political authority has been diminished by alleged abuse of the legal veto power accorded to five permanent members whose own composition mirrors the political realities at the end of World War II.
We have proposed modernizing the security council by opening up permanent member status on a regional basis and by limiting the veto to particular issues or even taking it away altogether where there is only a single negative vote cast.