Debates of Sept. 25th, 2001

Terrorism

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the question of substance is whether the Prime Minister is prepared to provide leadership around ensuring that we have a UN sponsored international court or tribunal. He simply cannot choose which international laws he wants to obey. A coalition, no matter how broad, cannot simply take the law into its own hands.

We need the Prime Minister to invoke article 35 of the UN charter, bring the matter before the general assembly and bring the terrorists' crimes before an international UN sponsored proceeding. Will the Prime Minister agree today to provide some--

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs.

[John Manley, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, first, international law was invoked by the security council resolution on September 12 and action therefore by the United States or other countries who were under attack is authorized by article 51 of the UN charter. That is the position that the European Union and others have taken as well. It is not inconsistent with international law.

Furthermore, as the hon. member knows, there is no international court at the moment nor is the person accused in anyone's custody. That is a minor complication but it is hard to put someone on trial who has not been arrested.

Canada-U.S. Meeting

[Joe Clark, Progressive Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, will the Prime Minister report formally to the House of Commons detailing specifically what he proposed, what was requested and what was agreed to in his discussions yesterday with President Bush?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I reported to the Canadian people immediately following the meeting because they were very anxious to know what had been discussed.

During our discussion, the president of the United States made no request for military assistance from Canada. I told the president that if he wanted Canada's support we would support them. He was very appreciative of that fact. We also discussed some bilateral issues with regard to working together to ensure the free flow of goods between Canada and the United States. We will work together in collaboration to fight terrorism.

[Joe Clark, Progressive Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, he continues to ignore the Canadian parliament.

To counter terrorism, did the Prime Minister set up a Canadian action group to make optimal use of our very special relations with the third world, the Commonwealth and the Francophonie?

If he intends to do so, can he immediately make that proposal to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, so that public hearings can urgently be held to allow parliamentarians, non governmental organizations and other stakeholders to make this Canadian initiative the strongest possible one? Will the Prime Minister open the door to Canadian expertise?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the leader of the government in the House proposed to set up committees to review these issues. All the parties gave the names of some of their members to allow these committees to sit, except for the Conservative party, which did not provide any names. This means that these committees cannot sit because of the inaction of the Conservative leader.

Terrorism

[Jason Kenney, Canadian Alliance, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on Friday the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions forwarded a letter to Canadian banks asking them to co-operate with the FBI in investigating certain individuals, most of whom are already dead.

This letter makes no reference to freezing and seizing the Canadian assets of Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, but the minister said that this letter was a notice naming the organizations that they were to go after. Where is the list of terrorist organizations whose assets are to be frozen by Canadian banks? Where is that list?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, it was published by the President of the United States yesterday at a press conference which the hon. member might have watched. Canada, on the instructions of the Prime Minister, proceeded immediately to speak to OSFI. OSFI spoke to the banks and the assets are frozen.

[Jason Kenney, Canadian Alliance, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, does the government under current legislation have the power to seize and freeze the assets of groups like Al-Qaida, Islamic Jihad, the Armed Islamic Group and Hamas, all of which according to CSIS are operating in Canada? Do we have that power to seize and freeze assets?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the government has the power to act under the UN resolution with specific institutions and specific individuals being named. Those are the ones that were named.

The Economy

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister said that the Canadian economy was doing well, despite the events of September 11 in the United States and the slowdown in the North American economy.

How can the Prime Minister be so out of touch with reality, when the Governor of the Bank of Canada, David Dodge, is predicting zero or negative economic growth for the next six months?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I think that everyone realizes that the Canadian economy, and indeed the global economy, has been affected by the events of September 11, certainly the third and probably the fourth quarter of this year. But I will again quote the Prime Minister and all the G-7 finance ministers, who still have great confidence in the medium and long term outlook.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how can the Prime Minister, and now the Minister of Finance, justify these statements to the effect that the economy is in good shape, when we are hearing that Air Transat will be laying off 1,300 employees, that Air Canada will be laying off more than the 7,500 already let go, and that Pratt & Whitney is getting ready to slash its production? I think that it is time that he gave us a true picture of the situation and the measures he intends to take.

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, I spoke by telephone with the G-7 finance ministers. All agreed with our view that the global slowdown will undoubtedly have an impact on Canada in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

But we remain very confident with respect to the medium and long term outlook because of the strength of the Canadian economy and because we have our fiscal house in order, both federally and provincially.

Terrorism

[Paul Forseth, Canadian Alliance, New Westminster—Coquitlam—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the immigration minister admits her department started thinking about terrorists and criminals using Canada as a launching pad only after the White House released its international crime threat assessment last year.

The minister has had a full year to think about it. Why has nothing been done?

[Elinor Caplan, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is completely wrong. We also know that everything has changed since September 11 for everyone, not just for Canada but for every country in the world. Terrorism knows no borders and no country is immune from it.

We have taken action. We have taken action with Bill C-11. We have taken action with policy initiatives. Since September 11 my department has been on the highest state of alert to protect Canadians' interests at our borders.

[Paul Forseth, Canadian Alliance, New Westminster—Coquitlam—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the American report states that the United States faces a growing threat from organized crime groups that are using Canada as a gateway for criminal activity directed at the United States.

Today U.S. attorney general Ashcroft again confirmed those fears.

Why are we seeing a pattern of ignoring warnings, never responding in a timely manner and never implementing effective security checks?

[Elinor Caplan, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the report that the member refers to is on a website on the Internet. It has been there for a year. When my department became aware of that, we took action immediately.

I want to say this: Canada is not and will not be a gateway. Further, last year we were the end of the road for some 1,700 individuals, criminals, security risks, who were identified and deported from this country.

Further, we have taken action to fast track the permanent resident card and intensify security screening at our borders.

[Caroline St-Hilaire, Bloc, Longueuil, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today the Bloc proposed a motion calling for the government to consult parliament and hold a vote on any major commitment by Canada in the battle against terrorism which is taking shape.

Why is the Prime Minister planning to vote against this motion, when its sole aim is to give solid backing to Canadian decision making in the important battle against terrorism which is taking shape?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the government has established a very clear procedure. Before this Prime Minister and this government came to power, there was no way for the House to be consulted. We have instituted one formally.

Each time troops have been deployed, members of parliament have been consulted. The Prime Minister has committed to doing that same thing in a similar eventuality this time, and we commit to that. This is a credit to the Prime Minister and his government.

[Caroline St-Hilaire, Bloc, Longueuil, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the motion we have brought before this House today is, to all intents and purposes, the same as that presented by the present Deputy Prime Minister in November 1990, at the time of the gulf war.

Why is what was good for the Liberals in 1990 not good for all the citizens of Canada in 2001?

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I believe I will need to repeat the answer so that the hon. member and everyone else will understand clearly that we have established this system of consulting parliamentarians.

We commit to respecting it, to ensuring that parliament is consulted; it has been consulted every time troops have been deployed. We commit to doing the same thing again this time, should it prove necessary.

[Lynne Yelich, Canadian Alliance, Blackstrap, SK]

Mr. Speaker, for years the government has known that the immigration ID process has serious security problems.

September 11 makes all Canadians realize that a secure ID card is needed immediately to curb a terrorist threat.

Could the minister tell all Canadians why we should wait until 2003 for a secure ID process?

[Elinor Caplan, Liberal, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, if the member had been listening to the last answer I gave she would know that a new permanent resident card is a priority for my department. I can assure her that it will be sooner rather than later. I have asked my deputy to ensure that it is fast tracked so that we can have it as soon as possible, but we want it fraud resistant and tamper resistant. We want to make sure that it is state of the art, but we also want it quickly.