Mr. Speaker, on February 6 the House reaffirmed its opposition to the death penalty and called on the government to continue to make efforts on behalf of Canadian citizens sentenced to death in a foreign country. This government voted against that wish, with complete contempt for the traditional position in this matter.
I would point out that in 2001 the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty is “cruel and unusual”. And yet the Conservatives have refused to appeal to the United States to ask that the death sentence given to a fellow Canadian citizen be commuted to a sentence of life in prison. In addition, they refused the invitation from the United Nations to sponsor a resolution calling for a moratorium on this cruel form of punishment.
We can only denounce the distressing direction taken by this Conservative government. Last Wednesday they clearly voted to turn the clock back 30 years.