Bill Graham

[Foreign Affairs, May 29th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the House that the government shares the concern of the hon. member regarding the situation in India and Pakistan. The Prime Minister personally spoke to President Musharraf on the weekend. He also spoke to the prime minister of India. We are doing everything we can along with our colleagues at the NATO meeting, which we were at yesterday, and in the international community to ask these two parties to draw back from the brink of what could be a nuclear war.

I do not think it would be appropriate for us now to interfere in the fight between them. What we need to do is stop the rhetoric and stop the potential of this tremendous violence.

[Taiwan, May 2nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, Taiwan can now freely obtain information on health from the WHO. The problem is that Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations and that the WHO is a UN body.

Taiwan has the right to go to this organization, obtain information, and participate on a non-status basis, in other words, not as a member country, but as an interested member of the international community.

[Terrorism, May 1st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to inform the House that just weeks ago on April 3, Canada deposited instruments of ratification for the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings. With this ratification Canada is now a party to all 12 of the international counterterrorism instruments required by UN security council resolution 1373.

September 11 reminded us all that terrorism is an ever present threat to the tranquility of our lives, to peace and security everywhere and to the well-being of men, women and children of all faiths, all national and ethnic groups and all religions.

Since the attacks, the world community has come together to join in a campaign that goes far beyond military intervention and to co-operate in almost all international bodies.

We have moved beyond condemnation and condolences to practical action. To a large extent this action is guided by the UN milestone security council resolution 1373 which requires member states to take specific steps to counter terrorist financing and deny terrorists safe haven. It also urges the implementation of all relevant international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.

All international laws on counterterrorism are rooted in the 12 UN counterterrorism conventions and protocols which together constitute a framework for preventing terrorist acts such as hijacking, hostage taking and terrorist bombings.

The Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings gives countries jurisdiction over the unlawful and intentional use of explosives and other lethal devices in public places with intent to kill or cause serious bodily injury, or with intent to cause extensive destruction of a public place.

Canada's ratifying and implementing the convention strengthens the powers of the international legal community to suppress such terrorist bombings.

We have reached another milestone in the search for international justice and the global effort to counter the threat of terrorism.

[Softwood Lumber, April 29th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the hon. member's praise of the ministers for attending this conference. The two ministers have gone there to show that we are solidly behind the softwood lumber industry in our country.

The Minister for International Trade has been working on this file for months. He has managed to keep our producers in this country together and united against the United States. He is in British Columbia to work with governments and the industry, to focus on the future and to put in place conditions for a stronger, more competitive industry in B.C. and across Canada. I think we should welcome his participation in that area.

[Terrorism, April 29th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows full well that his statement is wrong that in no country with Hezbollah is this distinction made. The precise same distinction that we have made has been made by the authorities in the United Kingdom for exactly the same reason. That country has a great deal of experience with terrorism and knows that in the course of dealing with terrorism we must be careful not to shut off places which will enable ultimately peace to take place if we can encourage the right type of actions.

Canada will not be terrified by the hon. member deliberately misstating what the facts are and deliberately trying to mislead us by using one term to cover two separate situations.

[Terrorism, April 29th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, that is precisely why we shut down the military fundraising by Hezbollah in this country, because there was evidence that there was fundraising for improper purposes. We have shut that off.

I repeat what I have said in the House before. We will not shut down fundraising by legitimate organizations which are doing work that is helpful in the region. We are constantly willing, as I have told the member and all members of the House, to review our policies in light of all relevant circumstances. We will continue to do that.

We have shut down many terrorist organizations since September 11. The list is long. We will not hesitate in doing it. We have done it and we will continue to do so when appropriate for Canadian interests.

[Foreign Affairs, April 26th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have not had an opportunity to examine the precise words of Mr. Axworthy so I hesitate to take exactly what my hon. colleague has been good enough to say Mr. Axworthy said.

If in fact he is suggesting that what we are presently doing in terms of mere discussions with the United States as to how we can better assure the security of Canadians is somehow selling out our sovereignty, I totally reject the suggestion. As the Minister of National Defence has indicated to the House, what discussions we have had have enhanced our sovereignty and have enhanced our security. We will continue to do that as this government acts on behalf of all Canadians.

[Foreign Affairs, April 26th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, as we told the House, the U.S. government is not in a position to demand that Canada engage in military spending. It is this House, it is the Canadian government that makes the decisions regarding our military spending, and we will continue to do so, with the sovereignty and security of Canada and Canadians in mind.

[Foreign Affairs, April 26th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the House that the report to which my colleague refers will be tabled before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and that it will be considered.

Right now, there is absolutely no question of a threat to the sovereignty of Canadians or of Canada, because we have no agreement with the United States in this regard. The Americans have put in place certain provisions for their own security. We will examine those provisions and take the necessary measures to protect ourselves and to guarantee our own security and sovereignty.

[United Nations, April 24th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, as I said in the House today, Canada supports the UN secretary general's efforts to get a fact-finding mission under way in Israel and in the Palestinian territories. We support these efforts and have clearly said so to the Israeli authorities, as well as the UN. We will continue to support these efforts and we are confident that Kofi Annan will have this investigation under way by the end of the week.