I will. It is in Hansard.
I would refer the Speaker to Hansard of November 19, 2002 and the then member of the official opposition, who is now the Minister of Public Safety, in which he specifically refers to “answer concerning Maher Arar and his possible terrorist ties”, and it goes on. The quotation that I gave is accurate. It comes from Hansard.
I also made reference to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, and I will refer the House to Hansard of November 18, 2002, in which the member, now Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, states, “Arar was given dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship by the government.” She is referring to the Canadian government and says, “It did not pick up on his terrorist links and the United States had to clue it in”. The member, now Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, went on, but I would refer Mr. Speaker to Hansard of November 18, 2002.
I also made reference to the present Prime Minister having equally called Mr. Arar a terrorist or having made reference to Mr. Arar having possible terrorist links. I wish to inform the House of where the reference comes from. I refer the Speaker to Hansard of November 18, 2002, in which the present Prime Minister, who I believe was then the Leader of the Official Opposition, and I could be wrong, or of some party, said:
Mr. Speaker, the government's right hand does not know what its left hand is doing when it comes to national security.
The foreign affairs minister said for two months that the United States had offered no justification or information for the deportation of Maher Arar. Yet we now know that the RCMP knew of [Mr.] Arar's activities. They questioned him nearly a year ago and they were notified weeks ago by the RCMP of its information.
My question is, when did the minister know of the RCMP's holding of information on this matter?
The present Prime Minister also stated on the same day, November 18, 2002, that:
--he said he did not know. It would be nice if there were somebody here to actually answer a question on this.
While the minister participated in high level consultations to defend a suspected terrorist, it apparently took a trip by the U.S. Secretary of State for the minister to admit what he really knew.
The present Prime Minister made that statement in reference to Mr. Arar as a “suspected terrorist” on November 18, 2002.
When I asked my questions, my questions came from the official transcript, Hansard, wherein the now Minister of Public Security, the now Prime Minister and the now Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance referred to Mr. Arar back in November 2002 as either a suspected terrorist or an individual having links with possible terrorists and, at that point, accused and denounced our government for, in their own words, trying to secure the liberation and freedom of a “suspected terrorist”.
When I ask these questions and the Minister of Public Security, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and just about every Conservative there laughs and makes jokes, and when we are talking about a Canadian citizen who was tortured, possibly as a result of their own statements in this House in 2002, it is appalling and it is a question of privilege.