Svend Robinson

[Apec Inquiry, October 22nd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the solicitor general and it concerns the APEC inquiry.

Will the solicitor general tell the House precisely what role the lawyer for the federal government, Ivan Whitehall, played in reviewing RCMP tape recordings of Jean Carle, the Prime Minister's top henchman, at APEC?

Has Whitehall been given any privileged access to review the evidence and, if so, does the minister not recognize that this makes a mockery of the commission's independence and in effect will destroy the credibility of the commission itself?

[Petitions, October 21st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a second petition which is signed by residents of my constituency of Burnaby—Douglas noting the concerns around the multilateral agreement on investment.

The petitioners point out that through this agreement the rights of Canadian citizens and the power of the Canadian government will be greatly suspended and superseded by those of foreign investors and multinational corporations.

The petitioners therefore call on parliament to consider the enormous implications to Canada by the signing of the MAI and put it to open debate in the House and place it for a national referendum for the people of Canada to decide.

I note that today it appears the MAI is dead at the OECD but nevertheless I believe this petition is important to register the ongoing concerns.

[Petitions, October 21st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present petitions signed by over 1,000 residents of Alberta and British Columbia who express serious concern about rampant human rights abuses in Indonesia and in particular about serious looting, rioting and the death of more than 1,300 people last May.

The petitioners note that hundreds of ethnic Chinese women were raped and they point out that there is a long history of discrimination against ethnic Chinese living in Indonesia.

The petitioners call on Canada as a human rights leader to speak out on this and they urge parliament to appeal to the president of Indonesia to enact and enforce laws so as to protect the safety and rights of the ethnic Chinese, to bring those responsible for these atrocities to justice, to apologize and compensate the victims and to form an autonomous committee promoting racial harmony.

The petitioners call on Canada to modify our current immigration regulations to help respond to this humanitarian crisis. I certainly echo their call.

[Apec Inquiry, October 21st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I will try again with the Prime Minister.

On November 25 of last year, the same day as a TV cameraman and UBC students were pepper sprayed, the Prime Minister said “I do not think APEC will ever have human rights on its agenda”.

In view of the brutal arrests, beatings and water cannon attacks on demonstrators in Malaysia, does the Prime Minister believe that human rights should be on the agenda of the upcoming Malaysia APEC summit? Yes or no?

[Apec Inquiry, October 21st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.

Two months before the APEC summit, Robert Van Derloo, the executive director of the federal APEC office, wrote “PMO has expressed concerns about the security perimeter at UBC, not so much from a security point of view but to avoid embarrassment for APEC leaders”.

My question is for the Prime Minister, not his cover the solicitor general. Is this statement true?

[Supply, October 20th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, I have listened to the solicitor general. Let me say no one has done more, unfortunately, to undermine the commission than the solicitor general himself with his comments on the possible outcome of the commission and then his failure to fund.

I want to ask the minister a very important question about the issue of funding. The Federal Court of Canada has said that the commission does not have the authority to extend funds to the student complainants. It was very clear on that. It quoted from section 45 of the RCMP Act.

The solicitor general has given money, $650,000. Does the commission in his view have the authority to use that $650,000 or the additional fund that he is talking about for legal aid for the student complainants at the APEC inquiry? Does it have the authority, according to his understanding as the solicitor general responsible for this act, to use those funds in that way? Yes or no.

[Supply, October 20th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I have listened with care to the member for Vancouver Quadra. It is unfortunate that he did not listen with the same care to the members of his own party in British Columbia who voted overwhelmingly this past weekend at their convention, the BC federal Liberal Party convention, to urge the government to provide funding.

I will put a very specific question to the member. He has an opportunity now to stand up and be counted on this issue, to stand up for his constituents. He does represent UBC.

I suggest with respect that the member is misleading this House. I am sure it is inadvertent. He is misleading this House when he says that the commission has the discretion to use the funding it has been given, including the $650,000, to fund legal assistance for the students. He talked about various legal opinions. However, the member for Vancouver Quadra did not talk about the fact that Madam Justice Barbara Reed of the Federal Court of Canada specifically said that the commission has no jurisdiction to provide one cent of funding for those students. I quote from the commission—

[Supply, October 20th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, somebody over on the Liberal side asked what about Mr. Considine.

Mr. Considine is the independent counsel to the commission and while he may be able to intervene to defend some witnesses against overly aggressive cross examination, he does not have a role to vigorously cross examine witnesses from the Prime Minister's office, from the RCMP and elsewhere. That is not his role. That is the role for counsel for the students.

[Supply, October 20th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, this is a fundamental question. Does the parliamentary secretary believe, yes or no, that the commission has the power to use its own funds for legal aid to the students?

[Supply, October 20th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for those very thoughtful and incisive comments.

The member is absolutely right. This has nothing to do with the fundamental issue of confidence in the Government of Canada. This is a question of whether or not members on the government side of the House are prepared to support the fundamental principle of a level playing field before a federally appointed commission. That is what it is about, not whether or not the government should fall. We all have our views on that. But that is not the motion before the House. I trust that Liberal members will look at this in that light.

With respect to the second issue my colleague raised, there is an opportunity for those Canadians who do believe deeply that there should be legal funding if the government does not do the right thing. There is a fund which has been established by the B.C. Federation of Labour and I give the federation full credit for doing this. That fund is called the APEC protesters legal support fund. They are urging that Canadians from coast to coast make contributions. I know many have already done so very generously. I join in appealing to Canadians to do that.

I note once again what this is all about. A young student named Craig Jones on the UBC campus held up three signs. One said democracy. One said free speech. One said human rights. Those signs were torn down. Mr. Jones was wrestled to the ground and he too was locked up during the APEC summit.

That is what this is about, a profound violation of the basic charter of rights of Canadians all to kowtow to a brutal foreign dictator. We saw that.

What about the upcoming APEC summit, the ruthless suppression of the rights of people in Malaysia, the denial of funding by the Canadian government of assistance to the peoples summit there? We question this whole APEC agenda, the so-called trade liberalization agenda which really is about trampling on human rights, on the environment and on the rights of people and putting corporate profit before people.

We say no to that agenda and yes to funding for students to get at the truth about what happened in those black days around the last APEC summit in British Columbia.