Deborah Grey

[Foreign Affairs, February 10th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, in fact the Prime Minister just said not once but twice I am sorry but and came up with an excuse. The Prime Minister is incapable of saying I am sorry, period.

On APEC, on hepatitis C and on some of these other things the Prime Minister just continues to blame anyone else but himself. Now he is blaming the Jordanians and our Canadian air forces.

I would like him to stand up in his place and simply say the words, I am sorry, period, and not I am sorry but, but, but.

[Foreign Affairs, February 10th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, about one hour ago the chief of defence staff was forced to take the blame for the Prime Minister's poor judgment regarding King Hussein's funeral. What a humiliating day for our military.

Why was the chief of defence staff forced to take the fall for our Prime Minister's mistake?

[Apec Inquiry, February 9th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, there is really only one witness who could probably tell the whole story.

In all these major issues—the Somalia inquiry, hepatitis C, child pornography and APEC—the Prime Minister is always more concerned about how he looks than in doing what is right. How far is he willing to go? If he is subpoenaed to the inquiry, will he refuse to go there too?

[Apec Inquiry, February 9th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, in fact there was a new memo, new information released in Vancouver yesterday. Do you know where that is, Mr. Speaker? It is a 20 minute chopper ride south of Whistler.

It quotes the Prime Minister in his own words. He begged Suharto to come. He promised he would use whatever it took to suppress the protesters. He even bragged about how he had done it before for the Chinese premier. It is all out in the open right now.

Why is he so stubborn that he still refuses to accept responsibility even now that he is caught?

[Apec Inquiry, February 9th, 1999]

Certainly, Mr. Speaker. I do not want to even ask a question about that appalling lack of judgment, so I will ask another one.

Yesterday a new memo marked “secret, no copies” was released from the Privy Council Office to the APEC hearing. It quotes the Prime Minister in his own words promising he would do whatever it took to keep Canadian protesters from embarrassing Suharto.

Is the Prime Minister still saying he had nothing to do with security arrangements at APEC?

[Apec Inquiry, February 9th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, look who is in question period today. I guess he had 24 hours notice.

[Foreign Affairs, February 8th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, now it is someone else's fault. What a tragedy. The President of the United States attended.

This one thoughtless act has the potential to undo a lot of hard won diplomatic work. The Prime Minister had a special obligation to Jordan today.

Canada is the chair of the United Nations Security Council. We are trying to influence the peace progress greatly.

I would like the minister to stand and say what message the Prime Minister is sending to the rest of the world by simply refusing to show up at the funeral today.

[Foreign Affairs, February 8th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the world has known that King Hussein was going to die as early as Thursday. The Prime Minister had a lot of time to make plans. This is about showing solidarity with King Abdullah, the new Jordanian leader. It is about sending a message that Jordan is a valued friend. It is about demonstrating that Canada wants to be involved in achieving peace in the Middle East. It is about proving that Canada cares enough to send its highest dignitary, who should have known ahead of this impending tragedy.

Why did he not go?

[Foreign Affairs, February 8th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, King Hussein was a leader, a diplomat and a fighter. But perhaps his greatest legacy was that of a peacemaker, a man who helped bring warring nations together.

Every world leader was in Amman today to pay their respects. President Clinton and three former U.S. presidents were there. All of the leaders of the G-8 were there, including the ailing President Boris Yeltsin. Other than Saddam Hussein, the only world leader who was not there was Canada's Prime Minister.

Why did he not go?

[National Defence, February 4th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, that same company and manufacturer is in fact being sued by the American FDA.

The minister stood in the House in April and said he had taken the vaccine himself, the retested version.

Health Canada could have approved it but it did not have its tests done on it and it should not have approved anything it did not test itself, and the minister has admitted this right now.

The minister knew the vaccines were stale. He knew that the labels had been tampered with. He knew that they had not been independently tested and he knew that the company was in trouble with the FDA.

Why did he order our troops to be human guinea pigs for this vaccine?