Madam Speaker, since the speaker from the Alliance had taken advantage of expressing outrage, I thought perhaps at the beginning of my questions and comments I could allow my outrage to be expressed as well. That is, I think, in order, not that I would mention any members.
I would like to thank the hon. member for his very thoughtful speech. It is indicative of the great knowledge of the member for Esquimalt--Juan de Fuca and his interest in international affairs. We really appreciate his comments in the House.
I particularly appreciated the fact that he pointed out that the bill is largely a housekeeping measure and that when it comes to the police powers which he referred to in the bill, he did point out that in fact if we are to have coherent and excellent international co-operation and international meetings in our country, the police must be able to have the proper powers to be able to manage them, respectful as they are of the rights of Canadian citizens to protest, to express their views.
If we think back to the most recent summit we held in Canada, the summit in Quebec City, we would say that our police, at all levels, behaved with extraordinary coherence. They behaved extremely well in making sure that the rights of everyone were respected in very difficult and trying circumstances.
The reason I mention this is that I was in the House when the member for Surrey Central, the lead off speaker from the member's party, spoke about the bill. If I understood the member for Surrey Central, he was very critical of those provisions. He said he did not understand why those provisions would be there. He did not understand the reasonableness that was contained in the bill. He sounded more like the member for Burnaby--Douglas, who compared the bill to something like the War Measures Act.
I am trying to understand from the hon. member where his party is coming from. Is it supporting the police and the need of the Canadian government to have important meetings in this country and to enable our police authorities to manage those meetings or is it criticizing the provisions of the bill which would enable the police to do that?
Perhaps he might also wish to comment on his last statement, that he felt the bill should be broader in scope and deal with things like conditionality on IMF loans and other things. I presume the hon. member was just using this as an occasion to talk about a favourite hobbyhorse of his. I would not have thought that he normally would think IMF conditionality would be appropriately put in a bill that deals with diplomatic immunities and other rather more mundane matters.