Svend Robinson

[Nuclear Disarmament, April 20th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Foreign Affairs tabled the government's response to the report of the foreign affairs committee on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

While we welcome the government's call for an update of NATO's nuclear policy, it has failed to urge NATO to adopt a clear policy of no first use of nuclear weapons.

The government has also rejected the committee's strong and unanimous demand that Canada say no to burning MOX fuel in this country.

While we must work with Russia and the U.S. to address the problem of surplus fissile material, Canada must not become a nuclear waste dump for the world.

New Democrats urge the government to say no to MOX fuel in Canada and yes to a NATO policy of no first use of nuclear weapons.

As Physicians for Global Survival recently urged, let us give our children and grandchildren a world free of the terror of nuclear weapons.

[Kosovo, April 14th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, all of us fervently and deeply hope that particular proposal will bear fruit. There is no question about that.

How long is the minister prepared to wait? How many more people must die? How many more villages must be burned and refugees driven out of their homes before Canada finally takes urgent action, brings this matter before the security council and ultimately uses our leadership in the way that Lester Pearson did in 1956 to take it before the general assembly?

How much longer is he prepared to wait before he shows that leadership and brings it before the security council?

[Kosovo, April 14th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, because of the deepening crisis in Kosovo, Canada has an opportunity to use its position on the security council to show leadership and bring about a diplomatic solution of this crisis.

Will the minister representing Canada take before the security council a resolution under the uniting for peace precedent, a resolution which does not require a consensus of the security council but a simple majority?

Will Canada take that resolution before the security council and urge an emergency special session of the general assembly to try to arrive at a peaceful diplomatic solution to the problem?

[Kosovo, April 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, no one disagrees that we must protect the innocent civilians and the refugees in Kosovo.

The question that the minister does not seem to understand is that NATO troops who have been involved in bombing in Serbia cannot then be involved in a peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

Does the minister not understand and will he not take to the NATO council the reality that a peacekeeping force in Kosovo must be made up of non-combatant troops under UN command? Will he not take that to NATO?

[Kosovo, April 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Canadians are watching with growing horror the unfolding disaster of NATO's bombing campaign in the Balkans, with innocent civilians dying on a passenger train yesterday, cross-border attacks in Albania and a growing flood of desperate refugees.

Will the minister now show leadership and join with Russia in calling for an emergency meeting of the G-8 nations, and will he call for an immediate end to NATO bombing and Milosevic atrocities and a return to UN brokered negotiations?

[Kosovo, April 12th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I will be brief because I know there are many who have comments and questions. I thank the hon. member for his very thoughtful remarks and his approach to this tragic situation.

This past weekend I attended a meeting in Vancouver hosted by End the Arms Race, over 300 deeply concerned people from many different walks of life including students, church leaders, labour activists and others. There was a lot of wisdom in that group. They were calling for an end to the bombing, an end to the ethnic cleansing and a return to negotiations.

Does the hon. member agree that it would be a valuable and important initiative by the Government of Canada to convene a meeting at an early date of civil society, of key partners from the church community and from the labour movement? I know Canadian Auto Workers has issued a very important statement with a number of concrete suggestions on how we might approach the situation. Today the Canadian Federation of Students issued a similar statement.

There is not just wisdom within the military and in the House. There is a lot of wisdom in the country, in civil society. It would be a valuable and important exercise to convene on an urgent basis a gathering in Canada of groups such as that to seek alternatives to the present approach which is merely, according to NATO, reaffirming today more bombing and more air attacks.

[Kosovo, April 12th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I have two brief questions for my hon. colleague. I thank him for the work he has done on this very important issue.

First I would ask for an affirmation from my hon. colleague of the longstanding commitment of New Democrats to the fundamental right of self-determination of the people of Kosovo, basically reaffirming that commitment to their right to self-determination, to determine their own future and also obviously, for help in the reconstruction of their shattered society when they do return to their homes.

Second, would the hon. member comment briefly on the suggestion made by Senator Doug Roche, a very important suggestion, that we have another look at the agenda for peace that Boutros-Ghali published some time ago, an essential element of which was the creation of a rapid reaction force under UN auspices? I wonder if the hon. member would like to comment on that suggestion as well. It is certainly one that I support.

[Kosovo, April 12th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think there is any doubt that this is a serious concern. That is all the more reason for Canada to finally show some independence, to reach out and to show leadership internationally in brokering a solution that will restore the reputation we have fought so hard to establish.

[Kosovo, April 12th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, clearly we are saying that NATO cannot be the body that is ultimately responsible for bringing peace either to this region or in seeking to expand its role generally on its 50th anniversary as it looks for a new reason to exist.

Certainly we could look within the umbrella of the United Nations. We have also suggested that there may very well be wisdom in the general assembly itself. In his own comments the hon. member alluded to the importance of involving the UN general assembly and not just the security council. We may be able to bring that wisdom in to involve Russia directly in the process of decision making and ultimately negotiation.

If we are to achieve that success in negotiation, we have to be prepared to get back to the table without a whole list of preconditions. That is what our leader has called for today. That is what we are repeating at this time. For God's sake, let us recognize not a whole list of preconditions, stop the ethnic cleansing and the atrocities, stop the bombing, get back to the table and arrive at a peaceful solution that will allow all of the those who have been driven from their homes to return to their homes, that will allow for reconstruction and that will allow for just as many resources to be put into healing and rebuilding as have been put into violence and bombing.

[Kosovo, April 12th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, some of my colleagues have said it is the key. There is no question that Russia must be involved at the heart of these negotiations. That is one of the reasons we have called for that consistently.

Russia's position with respect to NATO peacekeeping troops is that it is a non-starter, so we have to re-examine that as well.

Of course we have to bring the United Nations much further into the loop. However, there is a lot of wisdom in civil society that has been ignored. Our government could show some leadership in convening, both within Canada and internationally, some sort of an international forum to seek alternatives to simple air strikes and bombing. There is that wisdom and we should be calling on it, both in Canada and internationally.