Debates of May 29th, 2008

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

[The Deputy Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

As I am just assuming the chair at this moment, I would like to thank all hon. members for their cooperation last night during the committee of the whole and I beg for your indulgence between now and 11 o'clock. I would like to give the same advice that I gave last night about making every effort to depersonalize the debate by asking all questions in the third person and not in the second person.

I recognize the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development who will have three and a half minutes for the question and the answer.

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development]

Mr. Chair, in my riding of Blackstrap, there is a concern with the rising cost of food around the world. As the minister noted, Canadians can be proud that of all the developed countries in the world Canada has been the third largest contributor to the World Food Programme over the last two years. In fact, I know it is this government's compassion for the less fortunate that has guided the minister in her portfolio.

On the topic of food aid, the minister has received a number of positive comments from organizations and individuals. Oxfam stated:

Canada is already one of the most generous donors to the WFP, and we are very pleased that Canada continues to show leadership to the world in responding to humanitarian crises as they arise.

It was the member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca who pointed out, after the minister's most recent food aid announcement, that:

The untying of aid is a good decision on the part of the government. Untying aid enables the World Food Programme to be able to get the best bang for the buck.

The executive director of the World Food Programme said:

This generous contribution by Canada will help protect millions of children from severe malnutrition and hunger.

I know the minister touched on the silent tsunami in her speech but I wonder if she would elaborate on what she has witnessed first-hand as she has travelled to some of the world's hardest hit countries.

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Chair, in my travels, I have seen levels of poverty that I know many members in this House would like to address, but it is important that to ensure we address them in such a way that it enables them to eat, not just today, tomorrow and next month, but a year, five years or ten years from now. Consequently, we were proud to respond immediately to the appeal by the World Food Programme. It asked for an increase of 26% and Canada responded with an increase of 28%.

I also saw that many of those who live at the poverty level do agriculture in order to feed their families. It has been said that tying one's food aid says more about wanting to helping one's own country than wanting to help people in other countries. When we took office, only 50% of food aid was untied. This government has gone forward and completely untied 100% of food aid. This means that food can now be acquired more locally, regionally and support local farmers and producers in those countries and regions.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with my colleagues from Pierrefonds—Dollard and Etobicoke—Lakeshore.

This evening we have been talking about very important issues and one important issue that needs to be addressed is the government's view regarding political responsibility.

One important issue that it neglects to speak to with open transparency is the whole NAFTA-gate affair. It is not simply about diplomatic information being leaked, it is about serious political interference.

We hear further allegations and I want clarification regarding those further allegations because it has definitely damaged our relationship with our most important trading partner, friend and ally, the United States.

There are many unanswered questions with respect to the Lynch report that was made public on a Friday afternoon when the House had risen.

The question I have is with respect to Frank Sensenbrenner, the son of the Republican congressman who worked at the Canadian embassy in Washington. Could the minister clarify whether Mr. Sensenbrenner obtained his contract as a result of pressure by the PMO or other cabinet ministers, as media reports suggest?

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Mr. Chair, I have addressed that question on a number of occasions in the House of Commons already.

The concern that arose with regard to the information about the American presidential candidates, their views on NAFTA and the potential leak of a document from within Foreign Affairs was a matter of great concern to the government. That is why the Prime Minister asked the Clerk of the Privy Council to conduct an investigation into the matter.

The Clerk of the Privy Council did exactly that. There was an extensive investigation. I know the hon. member from the official opposition was actually quite impatient that it took as long as it did and was as thorough as it was, but the Clerk of the Privy Council certainly wanted to ensure it was as thorough as it could be to get full results. In fact, he went to the length of obtaining the services of two outside professional firms with expertise in the area to assist him with that research and examination of the concern with the investigation.

The findings of that were actually released in a very clear and conclusive manner. I will focus on the three main findings.

The first finding was that the Prime Minister's chief of staff, contrary to what members had said repeatedly, had not been involved in any leak of any classified information and he was cleared entirely.

There is a pattern here of issues raised by opposition members that they assert as fact and then we discover later, once there is an investigation, that it is not the case. I hope he will offer an apology based on what was in the Clerk of the Privy Council's report on those allegations.

Similarly, they made the same kind of allegations--

[The Deputy Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

It is with regret that I must interrupt the hon. the government House leader. The hon. member for Mississauga—Brampton South has the floor.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would like to remind the hon. member opposite that the report very clearly said that the indiscretions of the hand-picked people by the Prime Minister caused this international fiasco. The report clearly indicates that.

My question again is specifically with regard to the role of Frank Sensenbrenner. In the investigation of the leaked report in the NAFTA-gate affairs, was Mr. Sensenbrenner's possible involvement investigated? All I want clarification on is whether his involvement was investigated, and, if so, whether he was cleared of any wrongdoing.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Mr. Chair, the assertion the member made about the Clerk of the Privy Council's report must have been from some other report because I know I read that report quite thoroughly and I never heard any suggestion of any leak. In fact, he said that neither the Prime Minister's chief of staff nor the Canadian ambassador to Washington, the hon. Michael Wilson, had made any leak of any classified information.

What was pointed to was the third element I wanted to get out, which was a very unwise, wide distribution and a misclassification of a memorandum that was produced out of the Chicago consular offices. First, they felt that it was not a classified document, but it should have been treated as a much more secure document, and second, in its distribution, it went to over 200 addresses. That obviously was problematic in the circumstances.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Chair, again, I said this at the beginning of my remarks. This is about political responsibility. Again, he failed to see the point. The point is very simple. The government has to take political responsibility.

I will quote from the report where it says very clearly, and the report says this, so I will see if the member has a problem with this, “it appears probable that Mr. Brodie spoke to the reporter on the subject of NAFTA”. It is very clear that the indiscretion of a hand-picked person, his close adviser, started this international incident

Again, back to my question with respect to the report itself. Regarding Mr. Sensenbrenner, if he were hired, what value for money did he provide in his services with the embassy? What steps has the department taken to ensure that the source of the leaked document was in DFAIT? It cannot be a matter of simply too many emails. It hired these private investigators. They cost over $140,000. The member cannot simply tell us that after the investigation, there were too many emails to follow up, or they chose not to pick up the phone and make the calls.

This is about political responsibility and I would like to have the answers to these questions.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Mr. Chair, on the contrary. What the member asserts is quite wrong. He says that the indiscretion of the Prime Minister's chief of staff was to refer to NAFTA. It is not an indiscretion to refer to NAFTA. I speak about NAFTA all the time. NAFTA is a very important part of Canada's trade policy. It has been important for creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. In fact, it is so important to Canada that the Liberal Party, after having fought tooth and nail to stop it and having run an election where they promised Canadians they would wipe it out, actually kept it. That is how important it is.

With regard to the comments of the Prime Minister's chief of staff, the report, and I will read from it since the member is not good enough to do so, says the following:

Any comments Mr. Brodie may have made during the lock-up did not reveal any information tied to the diplomatic report, of which he was made aware only on February 28. There is no evidence that Mr. Brodie disclosed any classified information.

He should read that to the House, he should apologize to Mr. Brodie and he should tell that to all Canadians.

[The Deputy Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

I now recognize the hon. member for Pierrefonds—Dollard, but I must inform him that his colleague, the hon. member for Mississauga—Brampton South, used two minutes of his time.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Chair, my question is of course for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

On May 14, 2008, in Halifax, the Prime Minister unveiled his Canada first defence strategy. He said he wanted to strengthen the armed forces' ability to protect our citizens and Canada's Arctic sovereignty.

With respect to this Arctic sovereignty, which is to important to everyone, can the Minister of Foreign Affairs tell us if he intends to re-establish the position of ambassador for circumpolar affairs, a position that this government eliminated in 2006?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, what the hon. member should realize is the government has a very strong and aggressive strategy for the Arctic. We are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in icebreaker and patrol vessel capacity and in port capacity in the north, in mapping the seabed in the north, in preparing ourselves for the boundary resolution under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.

There is a massive effort underway that focuses on a broad range of areas in the Arctic. I believe this will open up Canada's Arctic like never before.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Chair, the minister knows very well that Ellesmere Island, the most northerly island in the Canadian Arctic, is home to the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf. A Canadian army patrol, known as the sovereignty patrol, along with a team of scientists, has discovered huge cracks, which herald rapidly accelerating melting of Arctic ice.

Last year, Arthur Chilingarov, a former Arctic explorer and current vice-president of the Duma, went down to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean at the North Pole in a bathyscaphe to plant the Russian flag and claim the Arctic as Russian soil. The response of Canada's Prime Minister the following week was that Canada was going to build six to eight warships, not just ice breakers, but ice-worthy warships to patrol the Arctic.

Does the Minister of Foreign Affairs not believe that Canada should work diplomatically with other countries instead of building ice-worthy warships?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, my hon. colleague, the Minister of Natural Resources, just came back from a conference in Greenland, where a number of countries with an interest in the Arctic were working very constructively around issues of the continental shelf and the resolution of the management of the environment, of the economy and of shipping up in the Arctic. To me, that is diplomacy.

We are working constructively. We will work through the United Nations, but we need hardware, aircraft, vessels and satellite capacity. We will have to do more than just talk.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would simply like to say to the hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs that under the previous government it was the Minister of Foreign Affairs who was responsible for Canadian diplomacy, not the Minister of Natural Resources.

I would like to ask a quick question. Are there currently any negotiations or discussions between Canada and the United States concerning the delineation of the Canadian maritime zones in the Beaufort Sea?

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Chair, I rise on a point of order. I believe that there is a problem with the interpretation. Those on the other side are not hearing the English.

[The Deputy Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

We will stop the clock at the beginning of the question from the hon. member for Pierrefonds—Dollard while we fix these technical problems.

I am told that the simultaneous interpretation is now working. The hon. member for Pierrefonds—Dollard has the floor.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Chair, I want to know if there is actually any negotiations between Canada and the United States concerning the delimitation of the Canadian maritime zones in the Beaufort Sea?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, the short answer for the hon. member is that issue is not active right now. Canada and the United States have different perspectives on that issue, and there is no current process underway to deal with it.

[The Deputy Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Before I recognize the hon. member for Etobicoke--Lakeshore, I need him to know that we did turn back the clock because of these technical problems. However, there is still only three minutes left to the 15 minute block that belonged to the official opposition.

The hon. member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore has the floor.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Chair, could the minister say with certainty that since detainee transfers have been resumed to Afghan authorities recently, no Afghan detainees have been tortured?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, my first day on the job I received a very thorough briefing from officials who assured me that the system for tracking and monitoring detainees had been dramatically enhanced. The reporting of their well-being and visits are now approximately weekly. I have asked that a report be given to me on a timely basis so I can be assured, at all times, that there are no situations that should not be occurring.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Chair, does the minister continue to have confidence in the governor of Kandahar? Does he believe that Afghan official is part of the problem or part of the solution in respect to the matter about which I just asked him a question?

[David Emerson, Conservative, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair, we have confidence in the government of Afghanistan. We will certainly be working with it and supporting it in the pursuit of its legitimate democratic governance.

This is an issue and an appointment that is really in the hands of the government of Afghanistan, not in the hands of Canada.