House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 52% of the vote.
Iraq April 7th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, the United States is very aware of the importance of the international community in rebuilding Iraq.
Mr. Powell said in Brussels on Thursday that the UN would play—to use his words—“a major role” in post-war Iraq. But what role remains to be determined.
The conflict must end first. The country must be secured before the next step is taken. Canada will be there to play a role, to assume its responsibilities in the reconstruction of Iraq within an international context.
Iraq April 7th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister is in Washington to speak with Secretary Ridge about Canada-U.S. relations, specifically about how arrangements at the border are to be organized.
However, I can assure the House that, when I was in Brussels last week, I met Mr. Powell and foreign policy representatives from other countries. Everyone is seeking a balance between the presence of the coalition forces and the role of the international community.
Canada, naturally, will insist that the international community's role be as broad as possible.
Iraq April 7th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, I would sincerely hope that all members of the House would take the high road and seek not to antagonize other people and use partisan politics around this to benefit themselves and try to damage our country. They are seeking to damage our country with partisan shots, which are not appropriate and not even based on facts.
Iraq April 7th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has made it very clear that we do not approve of comments which in any way attack the integrity of our American friends. They are our best friends. They are our allies. We work with them on millions of issues.
On one issue out of perhaps a million we have had a difference of opinion but is it a difference that divides us in terms of the long term policies that we should be pursuing? In the best interests of the world community, we will continue to have those differences but we will manage them in the sense of respect, admiration and friendship that joins our two countries.
Iraq April 7th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, I quite understand the Leader of the Opposition's concern with regime change. It happens a lot over there so I quite understand why he might be nervous about that. However let us be very clear. For his protection, we hope they have a system there, like we want an international system that works so that this is won in the best interests of the peace and security of the world.
We wish our American allies well. We hope this ends quickly. We hope we will all come together for the benefit of the Iraqi people now that this has commenced.
Iraq April 7th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, the government, and I believe a large majority of the Canadian population, do not believe that regime change is something that we should engage in lightly in the international world without having the international approval of the United Nations Security Council which is designed by the world community to deal with such issues. That issue is past us.
Of course we wish our American allies a speedy end to this. Of course we wish them well in their endeavours. Of course we wish to not see them have casualties, and we wish, in the best interests of Iraq, that this be put to an end as quickly as possible.
Iraq April 7th, 2003
Mr. Speaker, I think we have made it very clear in the House. We worked very hard to have an international organization that would deal with this situation in a way which would be in the best interests of the Americans, the British and the world community. We still strive to make sure that our international organizations are strong and are able to deal with these situations.
War has begun. Conflict has begun. We have also made it very clear that we wish our American allies and all those serving in Iraq a speedy end to this, with as few victims and as few casualties as possible.
Assisted Human Reproduction Act April 1st, 2003
moved that Bill C-13, An Act respecting assisted human reproduction, be read the third time and passed.
Iraq March 31st, 2003
Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of National Defence said, our exchanges with our American colleagues go back a long time. We are not going to put a stop to these exchanges, which are very important to us and which have existed for decades. That tradition must not change. We must continue it with our allies, and we will stay there with our ships and personnel. However, this does not mean that we are at war with Iraq. We said that we advocate another solution.
Iraq March 31st, 2003
Mr. Speaker, we are part of the war on terrorism. We have been part of the war on terrorism. The way in which we sought to avoid this conflict, we worked hard to avoid this conflict. We sought to avoid the conflict and to have the very things that the member seems to take pleasure in describing to the House today.
Let us not take pleasure in these events. Let us work on trying to prevent them from happening in the way we have in the past, through the multilateral efforts for peace in the world and the way Canada has stood up for it in the past and will continue to stand up for it.