Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is obviously in favour of the motion introduced by the member for Perth—Wellington. I am sure that all members in this House, like us, believe that the government must continue to combat doping in sport.
Everyone will agree that doping is a real scourge in elite sports, and that there is no room for cheating.
This was demonstrated by the unanimous adoption of the first International Convention against Doping in Sport by the General Conference of UNESCO on October 19, 2005, at its plenary session in Paris. David Howman, the director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, the WADA, said the following:
The adoption of the Convention by UNESCO is a strong signal of the commitment of the governments of the world to the fight against doping in sport. The drafting of this Convention in just two years was a world record for international treaties. We warmly commend and thank UNESCO for facilitating the process, and we look forward to the treaty coming into force and the ratification by each government.
Until now, many governments could not be legally bound by a non-governmental document such as the World Anti-Doping Code, the document harmonizing regulations regarding anti-doping in all sports and all countries of the world. Governments accordingly drafted the international convention under the auspices of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, enabling them to align their domestic legislation with the code and thereby harmonizing the sport and public legislation in the fight against doping in sport.
The convention is now available for UNESCO member states to ratify according to their respective constitutional jurisdictions. Under UNESCO procedures for this convention, thirty countries must ratify it in order for it to become effective.
Some 192 countries have signed the Copenhagen Declaration on Anti-Doping in Sport, the political document through which governments show their intention to implement the World Anti-Doping Code through ratification of the UNESCO Convention. More than 570 sports organizations have already adopted the code.
We can see that the large majority of UNESCO's member states have already signed the convention and that a number of them have ratified it. The motion debated in this House will not have much of an impact, since the work has already been done in connection with a convention that was unanimously adopted in October 2005.
With this motion, the Conservatives would have us believe that they are trailblazers on an issue where everyone is already in agreement.
Obviously, the Bloc supports the convention against doping in sport. Obviously, everyone does. Anyone who said they were opposed to this motion or this convention would be saying they were in favour of doping and cheating.
Yet with this motion, the Conservatives are trying to say that national governments should “follow Canada's lead” in ratifying the convention. Canada may have been a leader in ratifying some international treaties, but the current Conservative government is hardly a trailblazer.
The Conservative government is the anti-Kyoto government. Is that how Canada is taking the lead? The Conservative government is the government that has done everything in its power to sabotage the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Is that how Canada is taking the lead? The Conservative government is the government that is working to defeat efforts by the United Nations to have the right to water recognized as a universal human right. Is that how Canada is taking the lead?
The Conservative government is the one that, despite the Convention on the Rights of the Child, remains silent on the Omar Khadr affair concerning the child soldier being held in Guantanamo Bay. Is that how Canada is taking the lead? The Conservative government is the government that, despite its membership in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, did away with tools that were essential to defending women's rights. What great leadership on the part of Canada. And the list goes on.
No, Canada is definitely no longer taking the lead, as it once did. It is no longer the country of peacekeepers. It is no longer the country that bridges the gap between eastern bloc and western bloc countries. It is no longer the country that refused to go to war in Iraq. Canada is no longer taking the lead on anything.
The Conservatives' Canada is a country that lets Canadian citizens sentenced to death rot in jail while awaiting execution. Clearly, if we must follow an example, we should follow Quebec's example.
We saw what Quebec was capable of in the implementation of the convention on the expression of cultural diversity. And think of the phenomenal work done by Louise Beaudoin.
Many Quebeckers were dynamic and dedicated in their involvement in the fight against doping. Think of how Radio-Canada reporter Robert Frosi raised awareness with his book, Dope Story. In it, Mr. Frosi asked some fundamental questions about the future of elite sports becoming a human experimentation lab where athletes are used as guinea pigs. Will tomorrow's athlete be genetically modified? That question is as disturbing as it is important.
Think of Dick Pound, the first president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA. He was the prime mover behind the anti-doping movement. His mission drew him into a number of fights that he never backed down from, including a conflict with the Olympic committee, which was suspected and found guilty of not sanctioning athletes who tested positive, especially in track and field.
Think of Ms. Christiane Ayotte, a chemist specializing in the fight against doping and an international authority in the mattter.
Quebec is definitely one example, as was Canada before the Conservatives formed the current government. The truth is that this motion is an attempt to restore its lustre by a government completely lacking in virtue.
The Bloc Québécois will vote in favour of this motion because no one is in favour of cheating and we deplore all the collateral damage caused to athletes who seek excellence and whose lifetime efforts are destroyed by a system that demands that the latest record be toppled immediately, no matter the cost. We will vote in favour of this motion, but the Conservatives should not try to improve their image at the expense of those working on making Canada and Quebec exemplary places for elite sport. That would be vile and base.