House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2004, with 43% of the vote.
Parliament of Canada Act December 8th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the process led to a percentage. In the present circumstances of inflation and the private sector agreements and people looking at us for leadership, what would my colleague think would be a process that would lead to something Canadians would respect, rather than thinking that we or the judges are simply ripping the taxpayers off?
Parliament of Canada Act December 8th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, what would my colleague think would be reasonable percentages in the circumstances that we are talking about?
Human Rights November 30th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, all individuals have basic human rights. One of these rights is free speech.
Tenzin Delek, a Tibetan monk, spoke freely about what he believed in. He maintained that he only spoke out to promote non-violent and compassionate behaviour, yet he was charged by Chinese authorities in Sichuan for allegedly “causing explosions” and “inciting separation”. He was given a closed trial in which he was denied due process, including inadequate representation. He was judged guilty before even going to trial.
As stated by Radio Free Asia, countries including the United States have called for “the need to provide clear and convincing evidence of guilt in all capital cases and noted widespread international concern over Tenzin Delek's case”.
Canada, as a long term supporter of human rights and democracy, should urge the Chinese authorities to stop the execution of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and to review his sentence. He and other political prisoners in China deserve a fair trial.
Ukraine November 24th, 2004
Madam Speaker, it is difficult to overstate the importance of the election that has just taken place in Ukraine.
In the media the current contest has been portrayed as a geopolitical struggle with the result set to determine whether Ukraine continues to move toward integration with Europe and the democratic world or whether it pulls back from this engagement and is slowly re-absorbed into Russia's sphere of influence as part of the east.
There is no doubt this is an important element of what is occurring right now. Certainly it helps to explain the inexcusable interference in Ukraine's domestic affairs by President Putin, something I condemned when I was in Kiev on November 4, as did other members of our caucus.
When we think like this, however, we tend to lose sight of the real stakes, which are democracy, dignity, freedom and better lives for the 50 million people of Ukraine and their right to determine on their own terms the national future that they most desire.
Today Ukraine is at a critical juncture in its modern history with this election standing as a potential turning point. Since independence in 1991, Ukraine has made steady progress toward greater prosperity and democracy, to the point that organizations such as Freedom House and their annual country rankings list the degree of freedom experienced in Ukraine today as more approximate to countries like Turkey than it is to its immediate neighbour, Russia.
If the results of this stolen election are allowed to stand, this admirable progression will be reversed and the cause of human dignity in Ukraine will be set back years or even, terribly, decades.
There can be no doubt in the mind of any member of the House that the elections in Ukraine were stolen. I will just give two examples of the massive fraud that h was perpetrated over the course of the election right from the first round of voting a few weeks ago.
Some voters in eastern Ukraine, the stronghold of the incumbent prime minister, voted in the morning in their own resident polls and then were bussed to Kiev and other locations to vote again, sometimes more than once, using absentee ballots.
The following is the worst that I have heard. The Donets'k oblast is reported to have recorded a voter turnout of over 99%, 19% higher than the national average and well beyond the normal deviation from the mean. It is alleged at the time the balloting closed that the recorded turnout was only 74%, meaning that 843,000 voters were added after the balloting ended.
Canada's response to the situation is of the utmost importance and must be designed carefully. We must ensure that our response is more than a visceral reaction against an appalling, wholesale ballot stuffing, but that it actually serves to advance the cause of democracy in Ukraine which I have called often one of the founding countries of modern Canada.
This is critical. No one who has seen the pictures at the rallies in Independence Square in Kiev can doubt that there is a strong and determined democratic movement there that will not be defeated by scoundrel's and oligarchs, and they will not go quietly or meekly back to another darker day in the country's history.
Whatever we do now as a nation and as a government should be designed to support those democrats for they are the future of Ukraine whether the current leadership of that country accepts it willingly or not.
What then must be done? Rejecting the announced results is a good beginning but we must do more. The people's president, Viktor Yushchenko, has called on Ukrainian democrats to assemble in Kiev and continue to assemble en masse until the results are overturned. Momentum is building.
Like many members, I receive e-mails from people in Ukraine. One, until two weeks ago, was an intern here in our Parliament. The first message she sent came immediately after the election was stolen and people were gathering in Kiev and around the country. The subject line of her message was “It is beginning”. She was talking about a revolution in Ukrainian politics on the line of Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution. She said that she was not defeated but inspired.
Yesterday she sent an e-mail and said that there were reports that members of the Ukrainian special armed forces had been seen wearing orange arm bands, signifying support for Yushchenko. Indeed it has begun but it is not too late for it to be stopped. There are disturbing and, frankly, terrifying reports that Prime Minister Yanukovich has released busloads of criminals from jails who may well be armed. Presumably this has been done to disperse the crowds peaceful demonstrators and create disorder.
This may be to create a pretext for unleashing the power of the Ukrainian, and perhaps even the Russian, army on the people, the democrats, who are gathered in Kiev.
Violence in this situation would compound exponentially the tragedy of these elections. Canada must speak loudly and clearly to Ukraine and the world to say that we will not tolerate the use of force to suppress the peaceful protest that is currently going on. We must back up our words with action.
Canada should immediately dispatch war observers to Ukraine to monitor the situation firsthand so that we may bear witness to anything that may happen in the important days to follow. We should encourage other countries to do the same.
We must also use our diplomats who are there to directly and forcefully tell the Governments of Ukraine and Russia that we are watching their actions closely and that no violence will be tolerated.
In doing this, we must be clear that our quarrel is not with the people of Ukraine but with the corrupt leadership that has illegitimately subverted the will of a population. In practical terms, this means that we must build bridges quickly with the democrats who are leading the struggle for change in Ukraine, as we did in South Africa during apartheid and elsewhere. We must let them know that we are in solidarity with them and urging them to success at this important time.
If the announced result of this election is not overturned and the government of Ukraine insists on carrying through with this theft to the last moment, every aspect of our relationship with the government of Ukraine must be examined. I hope this would include expressing an ironclad determination to hold all officials who perpetrated or benefited from this fraud and theft personally responsible for what has occurred and to enact targeted sanctions against them as a result.
The situation in Ukraine is very fluid right now as everybody here knows. We should not focus too much on an uncertain and unhappy future when we still have the opportunity to produce a correct and just result today.
I am grateful that the Government of Canada has seen the wisdom of rejecting the announced results. I call upon it and all of us as concerned Canadians to act quickly, to act decisively and to act firmly to ensure that there are brighter days ahead for our friends, families and allies in Ukraine.
Agriculture October 7th, 2004
Mr. Chair, the member who is sitting about a metre away from my colleague will recall that in the committee I think I suggested that we have to open our markets to Japanese animals too and to anybody else. I will tell my hon. colleague that I was in Tokyo in an earlier life and pleaded with the former minister of agriculture there to open up to Canadian beef. I agree it was not put as explicitly as he and I would have liked them to put it, but basically what he said was, “If you will test every animal, we will let your beef into Japan”. As the member just said a minute ago, Japan tests every one of its animals. How can we deny it?
I also accept the point made by the member for Crowfoot that the U.S. is very anxious to get into Japan. A lot of people in Washington seem to think we will not get into the U.S. market until Japan opens up to the U.S. and that is a reality that we seem--
Agriculture October 7th, 2004
Mr. Chair, I made it clear in my talk and in response to the question that I think there is a serious problem with the loan provision. That has been made clear to all of us. The banks are not going to go for that. Therefore, it has to be changed and I have indicated that to the Minister of Agriculture and the President of the Treasury Board. It has to be changed quickly, because if we do not get the shovels in the ground before freeze-up in our province, it is going to be too late and the set-asides and everything else are not going to work.
We have to find a way of getting the banks, the credit unions and other people to provide money to help some of these plants, at least two or three of them, go ahead before the snow flies. The present proposal, as I have said as clearly as I can, is not acceptable to the lenders.
Agriculture October 7th, 2004
They have their rule at the moment. I am sure my colleagues have had people come to them and say, “If you'll test every animal, we'll let your animals into Japan for now”. How can they deny it?
I accept the member's point that they have not signed any purchase orders. That is a fair comment.
Agriculture October 7th, 2004
How can they deny our animals into Japan when they have the same rule for their own animals? They all have to be tested.
Agriculture October 7th, 2004
No, the test will be developed and we could use it in Edmonton, Calgary, Crowfoot or anywhere else.
The point is that if we go to Japan, as I think the member would realize, they say, “If you will test your animals, we will let your beef in”. They may not sign a purchase order but they have indicated--
Agriculture October 7th, 2004
Mr. Chair, I understand that this month there is a test that hopefully is going to be approved by the EU, which will cost something like $10 or $20 an animal.