Denis Paradis

[Journée internationale de la Francophonie, February 13th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, as a matter of fact, Canada will be hosting His Excellency Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and former Secretary General of the United Nations, who is coming to help us celebrate the Journée internationale de la Francophonie on March 20.

I invite all the hon. members to join us in celebrating this special day. I would add that Canada will be honouring one of the most eminent diplomats of our times and celebrating its sustained efforts to promote Canadian principles and values: the promotion of peace, democracy and human rights.

[Foreign Affairs, January 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I was in contact earlier with our Ambassador to Ivory Coast, Mr. Émile Gauvreau, who assured me that all 500 Canadians there are safe. The embassy has drawn up an evacuation plan to cover all possible situations. However, this morning, calm was restored. Our embassy is open again and our ambassador tells us that Ivorians expect the president to reassure them in the coming days.

[French in International Institutions, January 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, Canada actively promotes the use of French in international organizations. During the Francophone Summit in Beirut and the last ministerial conference in Lausanne, I announced that Canada would be providing $500,000 to promote the use of French in international organizations in New York and Washington, more specifically at the UN and the Organization of American States.

In the very near future, we will be asking Canadian companies if they are interested in this initiative.

[Prebudget Consultations, December 10th, 2002]

moved:

That the House take note of the second report of the Standing Committee on Finance presented to the House on Friday, November 29, 2002.

[Francophonie, December 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, delegates at the Francophone Summit of Heads of State and Government reiterated the principles in the Bamako declaration.

This week, a ministerial meeting following up on the Francophonie summit is scheduled. We have proposed a mechanism, enabling the implementation of Bamako, which will allow us to quickly apply this declaration where there are problems with specific Francophonie countries.

Whenever the Bamako declaration and its principles are mentioned, I think of Haiti. This is a place where Bamako could be truly meaningful in terms of democracy, human rights and good governance.

[Foreign Affairs, November 27th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the president of the Canada-Cuba friendship group for his question.

First, I would like to say that we are number one in tourism in Cuba, with 400,000 Canadians who will be visiting Cuba. We are number two in investment in Cuba. Trade and investment are two good ways to promote dialogue and promote Canadian values like human rights and democracy. We are planning right now an exchange of parliamentarians with our amigos.

[Foreign Aid, November 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the plan for NEPAD, the new partnership for the development of Africa that is being proposed by Africans for Africa, provides first of all that, to get investments in Africa—and this is the only way out for Africans, they say—there has to be progress in democracy, human rights and good governance.

This is the blueprint for Africa. For this purpose, last year, in Canada, as the hon. member indicated, we in this House voted $500 million in special funding to help Africa.

[Cuba, November 7th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the question is timely. I am indeed just back from Cuba.

One of the issues we raised was tourism. Each year, 400,000 Canadians travel to Cuba.

Another issue we raised with the Cubans was the size of Canada's investment in their country. Canada is the second largest investor in Cuba. We will also put in place agreements so that our SMBs, or small and medium sized businesses, can increase their presence over there.

We also raised the issue of human rights and democracy. In continuing our dialogue, we have agreed to have parliamentary exchanges.

[Francophonie Summit, October 30th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the summit was a success. Our objectives were certainly met. First, we reaffirmed the importance of the Bamako declaration, supporting values such as democracy, human rights and good governance.

We also spoke of the need for an international instrument in the area of cultural diversity. There was consensus on this.

Finally, given that 29 of the 53 countries in Africa are francophone, we spoke of NEPAD and this synergy that must develop between the Francophonie, NEPAD and the Africa Action Plan.

[Ingrid Betancourt, October 25th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, President elect Uribe was here last June. We raised the matter with him at that time. We are greatly concerned by the rumours of Ms. Betancourt's deteriorating health. She is one of 3,000 prisoners, including six former government ministers. We have stressed to President Uribe that the FARC must release Ingrid Betancour, considering her reported health problems.