Mr. Speaker, Zimbabwe is poised to descend into a bloodbath. President Mugabe says he is trying to redistribute land from wealthy white landowners to the poor black majority. This is simply not the case. Land reforms are a smokescreen so that Mr. Mugabe can terrorize his population and get re-elected.
I just returned from Zimbabwe where black farm workers have been beaten, brutalized and sometimes murdered by Mr. Mugabe's thugs. Their homes have been burned, their wives have been raped and they face starvation. Until this brutality ends Canada and the international community must suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth, freeze the personal assets of Mr. Mugabe and his government members, and implement an arms embargo on Zimbabwe.
Until the rule of law is implemented, all illegal farm occupants are removed and election monitors are on the ground these sanctions should not be lifted. Unless we do this thousands of people are poised to be slaughtered in the months coming up to their next election. We must act now.