Debates of May 29th, 2008

Foreign Affairs and International Trade--Main Estimates, 2008-09

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I am asking how much it is costing presently, not future costs. Therefore, I will leave that as a question for him. We are talking about the estimates. I hoped we would get a response from him about how much it cost the department.

Unrelated to that, it has been a couple of months since the House passed the extension of the mission in Afghanistan. I just came back from Afghanistan and I apologize for the jet lag.

We know the three things that were committed and concrete. We know about the thousand troops from NATO. We know about the helicopters and drones. What is missing is the government's response on the other facets to the motion.

The PCO travelled to that region for more than a week a couple of weeks. In the field, when we talked to people, they were waiting for the special cabinet committee to respond to give them direction.

Therefore, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who also happens to be the chair of the cabinet committee, and I hope to get a detailed answer on this.

When can Parliament and when can, more important, the people in the field in Afghanistan expect a very detailed response to not only the motion but to provide direction to the people in the field?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, we are in the process of finalizing the documents and materials and taking them through an appropriate decision making process. We will be briefing the parliamentary committee shortly. All the information the hon. member seeks will be available I would think by summer. I look forward to taking the committee through the plans.

With regard to the people who are there, we have a very good strong team of public servants from across government. They are there on what we call a rolling start program to start to get our feet on the ground and to get our capacity in place to dramatically enhance our civilian and developmental presence in Afghanistan. We will take him through that once we have the material completed.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would like to turn to human rights reporting. Could the minister confirm whether Canadian missions abroad are continuing to produce up to date reports on human rights conditions of the country or the region under its purview? I would like to know if it is still the policy of the government to provide up to date human rights reviews of any particular region or country under its purview.

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, the hon. member will know that our foreign policy, our embassies, our consulates and our missions abroad are very much focused on human rights, on governance, on rule of law, as well as trade, commercial and consular matters. That would be something that we would get ongoing routine information and updating on.

The United Nations, of course, provides probably a more robust systematic database, but certainly we are watching that at all times.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I believe I asked a very specific question about the Canadian government's policy in its embassies overseas, which had been the case before. I know that because through ATI we were able to get human rights reports up to 2006 but it has stopped.

Is the government still providing, through its embassies, human rights reporting on the regions and the countries under the purview of the embassies, yes or no?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, the answer is yes, we do have that information and we do report on it. If it has not been made available, I will follow up and find out what the reason might be.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would like to now turn to corporate social responsibility. It has already been mentioned that the government was looking at it. I want to point out that it has been over 425 days since the release of the report. In fact, when asked at committee and in the House last year, the government said that it would have a response very soon.

It has now been 425 days since the consensus report was actually tabled. This is a report that was civil society and business established. All the government needs to do is report. First, I want to know if we can expect a response before Parliament rises.

Second, were there any discussions with members of Barrick Gold on this report? In other words, were there any meetings at all with the government and Barrick Gold regarding corporate social responsibility?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, as I said earlier, the government is not standing still on corporate social responsibility. We have adopted through a variety of mechanisms. We have the guidelines under the OECD. The G-8 are working on a series of corporate responsibility guidelines in a number of areas.

We are certainly dealing with countries multilaterally to ensure that Canada is taking a leadership position but doing so in a way that ensures Canada is working on a consistent set of principles that would be applied not only by Canada, but by other of our trading partners.

We are moving ahead on corporate social responsibility. I am not going to give a specific timeframe right now but we are certainly getting very close.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I did not want a specific date from the minister. I want to know whether we can expect a response from the government before the House rises for the summer.

Second, were there any discussions between Barrick Gold and the government around the corporate social responsibility report?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, on the Barrick question, we have had numerous discussions with numerous companies and numerous groups of civil society and so on, both during the round table process and since. I would not want to say that there is any secret about that. It is our obligation to ensure we are getting a balanced set of views and we do undertake to get those views. I do not control the timing on the finalization of this report.

[The Deputy Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

The next block of time belongs to the official opposition.

The hon. member for Laval—Les Îles.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour and the member for Toronto Centre.

In 2000-01, 36% of CIDA's aid budget was allocated through civil society organizations. However, in 2005-06, spending through these same organizations dropped to 17% of the agency's budget.

Since civil society organizations play an essential role in development initiatives, how will the minister guarantee that these partnerships will not become even weaker?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Chair, this government recognizes how important civil society is to development work, not only working with our Canadian partners but international partners. We also support civil society in developing countries because it, too, plays an important role in ensuring that progress is made in those countries.

On the question revolving around support for civil society, we continue to do that and we do it in a way to ensure that the support we are giving will show results and be effective.

A number of organizations know their work is very valued by us because it does make a difference in the lives of people in developing countries.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Chair, as I already said, spending that once accounted for 36% of CIDA's budget has fallen to 17%. I do not see how that squares with the minister's answer.

In January 2006, the government committed to promoting foreign development assistance, allocating $425 million over five years. Despite this, levels of foreign development assistance have dropped from 0.34% of the gross national income in 2005, to 0.29% in 2006, to just 0.2% in 2007.

What assurances can the minister give us that official foreign development assistance will at least be brought back up to its 2005 level of 0.34%?

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Chair, I answered that question previously. I will reiterate that this government is committed to doubling its international assistance from the 2001-02 levels. We have committed to not only doubling aid to Africa but we will also ensure that when we do double our international aid it will be used effectively. By the commitments we have made, our total international assistance will reach approximately $5 billion in 2010-11.

I want to reiterate that it is not just the amount of money, it is how effective it will be and the value of the usage of those dollars. We know we can do our international development work more effectively to get better results and that Canadians will appreciate that we are doing international assistance responsibly and ensuring that taxpayers can see the value and the results of their investments.

[The Deputy Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

The member for Laval—Les Îles has one minute for the question and response.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to know the minister's opinion on the United States' embargo on Cuba.

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, that embargo is an American embargo. Canada does not have an embargo. We are watching the Cuban situation as the regime evolves and changes. We are hopeful there will be changes for the better toward human rights and democratic governments.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Chair, I welcome the minister and wish him the best in his new responsibilities.

I have a question for him. Many Canadians are concerned about the change of government policy toward advocating on behalf of Canadians facing the death penalty abroad. When the Minister of Justice stands he says that we do not have the death penalty in Canada, but that is not the question, and then we hear that it may be on a case by case basis.

I want to ask the minister himself, whose reputation I admire and whose work I respect, whether he believes that Canada has a moral obligation to advocate for the abolition of the death penalty here and abroad.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Chair, as the Minister of Justice has stated, there is no death penalty in Canada and this government will not revisit that subject. However, in reference to Canadians abroad, we will examine each case, as the Minister of Justice has stated, and that will remain the policy of the Government of Canada.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Chair, I thank the minister for his personal response.

Is the minister aware that Great Britain has decided not to include Canada further in the Commonwealth scholarships?

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Chair, a couple of nights ago the hon. member asked me that question and at that time I answered that we had made representations to the government of the U.K. to revisit this issue about the Commonwealth scholarships.

I would also like it if he could write a letter to the foreign minister's secretary of the British government and have his party tell the British government to revisit the subject.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Chair, I would be happy to do that. I hope the government does some of its own work in the future.

We are concerned about the reputation of Canada abroad. We have seen the incident with the governor of Kandahar. We have had NAFTA-gate and the debacles of Burma. We have Canada's reputation on capital punishment being sullied around the world. That was before the minister dropped his briefs in an appropriate place and forget to pick them up. That was before the Prime Minister misquoted the prime minister of Italy.

This is a very significant concern for Canadian students. I am sure the minister would know Stephen Toope, the president of the University of British Columbia, who said that this was tremendously shortsighted. Jennifer Humphries, VP of membership at the Canadian Bureau for International Education said that Canada has traditionally been a very good, strong partner, so it is a slap in the face to Canada.

Others have said that they are hoping our government will put pressure on the U.K. to reinstate the program. Kevin Lynch, Stephen Toope and a large number of Canadians have benefited from this and Canada has benefited from this.

Let me try a personal approach with the minister. After only three days, I do not expect him to have all the answers, but will he take a personal interest? Will somebody over there stand up for Canadian students and for Canada abroad and ensure we are reinstated in the Commonwealth scholarships which we helped to form?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, I thank the hon. member for his kind comments a little earlier. He is getting a little agitated now but I forgive him.

The answer to his question is yes, I will take a personal interest in this particular scholarship program. I want to assure the hon. member that there is a tremendous amount of work ongoing right now to develop and enhance various policies to enable Canada to attract more international students and to ensure Canadian students have a greater opportunity to attend foreign educational institutions.

It is a global economy with global value chains and it will be increasingly important for Canadians, and Canadian young people in particular, to be able to work not only here in Canada but abroad, and international education and experience will be a critical priority.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Chair, unfortunately, it was a decision of the Conservative government in 2006 which abandoned international studies and made it easy for Great Britain to cancel the Commonwealth scholarships.

While he is on his feet, let me ask him again. Would he agree with me that Canada has a moral obligation to stand up for Canadians facing the death penalty abroad? Does he believe that Canada has a moral obligation to work for the abolition of the death penalty here and around the world?