Mr. Speaker, that was an excellent address. The member spoke so clearly to the issues that I think all of us on the opposition benches at least, and I imagine some friends on the Conservative side in their heart, would like to see changed.
I am going to refer to a brief that came from Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic, which made some of the same points. Their reading of this bill, as it is before us now, said that under this bill we may still be running, not only not meeting the convention's goals, but running “counter to, the convention's goals”.
They are concerned that the bill:
Permits assistance with cluster munition-related activities...in the course of joint military operations...;Allows stockpiling of cluster munitions in and transit of them through Canadian territory;Provides only a limited ban on transfer of cluster munitions; andFails explicitly to prohibit investment in the production of cluster munitions.
My question is for my hon. colleague. Given these failures, how does he believe Bill C-6 stands up to the promises and the commitments we have made in signing the convention in the first place?