Mr. Speaker, having sat through those hearings, there is no question that when finally an apology and compensation were given to Mr. Arar, it was nearly universally supported by the Canadian public and it allowed Mr. Arar to move forward with his life. These three men deserve no less. However, it should not take that same crisis to push it there.
What is confounding, when we talk about asking for accountability on these reports, is it is more than just accountability, it is also honesty. One begins to get the sense that the Conservatives say that they will implement the recommendations without ever having the honest interest of implementing them. It is a way of deferring the issue. If they came out and just said that they disagreed, at least it would be honest. We could have a honest debate about that and the Canadian public could weigh the relative merits of them not taking the actions recommended or implementing the recommendations.
Instead, what the Conservatives do, as they do in so many matters, both in the Ashley Smith case and so many others, is say, yes, that they will adopt those recommendations. They thank us for them and then years pass by where nothing happens. What they hope is that Canadians will forget and will not follow up and that it becomes an obscure matter of debate some quiet Thursday in Parliament. Even that opportunity to debate is shut down.
It is clear these matters can be resolved. The Arar case is an excellent example of a direction that should be taken.