Bob Rae

[Foreign Affairs, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, that is extraordinary. The minister just said that, instead of abiding by a Federal Court judge's ruling, the government has decided to continue its personal attacks on this young man, who was recruited at 13 and taken prisoner in Afghanistan at 15.

I will repeat my question, which, despite being very straightforward, remains unanswered. What is it in the decision—

[Foreign Affairs, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs a question about the Khadr case.

Mr. Justice O'Reilly's judgment is really quite straightforward. He says that there is such evidence of systematic mistreatment of this prisoner at Guantanamo that there is now a positive obligation on the part of the Canadian government to make representations to bring him home.

I would like to ask the minister a very simple question. What is it in Mr. Justice O'Reilly's decision that the Government of Canada now takes objection to?

[Afghanistan, April 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the head of women's affairs at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission said that western silence had been “disastrous” for women's rights in Afghanistan. She went on to say something that is very pertinent. She said, “If they had got more involved in the process when it was discussed in parliament, we could have stopped it”.

When was the government aware of the legislation being proposed with respect to women in Afghanistan and what did it do about it when it heard about it?

[Afghanistan, April 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister talked about the very serious consequences. I asked him what the consequences are and he has not told us.

The question is quite simple. What is Canada going to do to lead the coalition of those people who understand that the passage of these kinds of laws throws into question not only what has happened for Canada but for the Dutch, the French, the British, the 60 countries that signed the Afghan Compact, and all those who sacrificed so much? What is the minister going to do about that? Where is the Canadian leadership?

[Afghanistan, April 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of International Trade said there would be serious consequences if the Afghan government maintained its retrograde, reactionary plan with respect to women in Afghanistan. I have a very specific question to put to the minister. What are those consequences?

[Public Safety, March 31st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, those members can laugh at jobs in Ontario. Those members can laugh at jobs in Quebec. Other people are not laughing. They said that we had gone from just in time to just in case.

Why did the Prime Minister not address this question when he made his pilgrimage to Fox News? Why was the Prime Minister not front and centre in defending the interests of Canadian industry and Canadian jobs?

[Public Safety, March 31st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is ironic that the minister has not in fact addressed what Secretary Napolitano said. She said very clearly what she said and the minister has not addressed it.

An executive from Campbell's Soup said at the same conference last week that we had gone—

[Public Safety, March 31st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Public Safety. Ms. Napolitano, the U.S. homeland security secretary, recently stated that, “One of the things that we need to be sensitive to is the very real feelings... that if things are being done on the Mexican border, they should also be done on the Canadian border.”

What is the minister doing to change these positively dangerous thoughts in the mind of the U.S. Secretary of State?

[Foreign Affairs, March 25th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the minister gave the very clear impression yesterday that before the Government of Canada would have a policy, it was waiting for direction from Washington. The minister has lost his battle to have a special envoy. When he was in Europe, he said that he thought a special envoy was a good idea. The minister of state said that he thought it was a bad idea. Apparently the Prime Minister agreed with the minister of state and not with his Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Who is going to be our special envoy? Richard Holbrooke.

[Foreign Affairs, March 25th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have another question for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In answer to a question yesterday, the minister said that he is waiting for President Obama's policy on Afghanistan. That means that Ottawa's policy, Canada's policy, is to be determined by Washington. Does the minister realize that?