Mr. Speaker, I am rising to follow up on a May 2 question I asked.
I get this privilege because iPolitics had an access to information request that came back with 100 pages of information showing emails of diplomatic staff that showed a growing confusion over how to work with the dual appointment of special envoy Stéphane Dion to the European Union and to Germany.
There is a quote I want to share with the House: “No idea if true of how it would work.” That could almost explain any Liberal policy that has been put forward by the current government.
There is a large block of text as well that was redacted, no doubt showing the gong show that this appointment has become with our allies. The fault lies completely with the Prime Minister, as special envoy Dion said to the foreign affairs committee when he appeared before it on May 2 of this year. He said that the agreement was not in place at the time, and that is something that is very important among diplomatic staff. Before making a diplomatic appointment, they typically ask their allies and ask the countries whether they are willing to accept it, and that had not been done in the case of the European Union.
In another quote, an ex-Canadian ambassador said, “We look like amateur hour.” The German and EU jobs are more than full-time jobs on their own. The German appointment by itself implies that the government believes that German leadership of the EU—this was pre-Brexit—took precedence over our allies in the United Kingdom, that their leadership of the European Union at the time was not as important as the leadership of Germany. We were taking sides in what was truly an internal diplomatic matter.
The question I want to continue today with the parliamentary secretary is this: was the appointment of special envoy Dion made to advance our national interest, or was it to deal with a niggling personnel problem that the Prime Minister had, namely that he had an incompetent minister at the time and wanted to move him out of the way—shunt him across the pond, so to speak—to the European Union and to Germany so it would be someone else's problem. Further, if that is going to be the behaviour of the government—to ignore the foreign service, ignore the diplomatic staff at Global Affairs—which minister is next?
I think that the Minister of Finance is ready for an ambassadorship. There are countries like, perhaps, Mongolia or North Korea—maybe Cuba would be nice this time of year—that we could send the Minister of Finance to. No doubt he has bungled the consultation on his small business tax proposals and he has bungled the ending portion of it and has refused to apologize. Which minister is next? Are future ambassadorial appointments going to be made to get rid of personnel issues on the front bench, or will they be done in the best interests of Canada?