Mr. Speaker, I just have a comment.
Canada's former chief negotiator on a treaty to rid the world of cluster munitions urged the government not to water down the bill. Earl Turcotte ended a nearly 30-year public service career by resigning in protest from the foreign affairs department over how the government planned to interpret a key provision of the convention. He said:
I believed at that time, and continue to believe that Canadian legislation would simply be inadequate, it would be too weak. It would not accurately reflect the commitments we made during negotiations of the convention.... In my view, Canada will be isolated among the 111 signatory countries to the convention for our very weak interpretation...I think Canada's interpretation would simply be wrong in law as well as in spirit.