Garnett Genuis

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, again the minister's concern is not sufficient. I wanted to know what action was taken on that, and unfortunately we did not hear an answer.

In supplementary estimates (C) from 2016-17, there is an item of approximately $18 million allotted for loan forgiveness to Cuba. These are Canadian tax dollars that are going, effectively, to the Cuban government. I would like to hear from the Minister of Foreign Affairs as to why that is a justifiable expenditure for taxpayers.

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, I am grateful for the concern and empathy of the minister, but I asked specifically what action the government has taken, after almost two years in power, to implement specific election commitments with respect to justice in Sri Lanka.

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, that question could have been answered with a yes or a no, and it was not, but I want to move on to Sri Lanka.

With respect to Sri Lanka, the Liberals promised during the last election to push hard for accountability for human rights abuses, for a long-term political solution that respects basic human rights, and for action to support victims.

It has been almost two years. I want to know concretely what steps the government has taken to implement its election commitments with respect to justice in Sri Lanka.

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, has the minister raised this issue with her counterpart in Burma?

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, I asked this question of the Prime Minister last week. He did not answer. I asked it again and I do not think I heard an answer.

Will the Prime Minister contact Aung San Suu Kyi to raise this issue? Is the Prime Minister willing to engage on this issue? It is an issue of ethnic cleansing of a religious minority in Burma. I think it is important enough for it to be engaged at that level.

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, I think the record will show whether the minister answered, but I have other things I want to ask about.

I gave the minister advance notice on Twitter that I would be asking this question: has the Prime Minister directly contacted Aung San Suu Kyi to raise the issue of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya in Burma, and if he has not, will he?

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, I do not know how far we are going to get. Maybe I will ask the same question over and over again, like last week in question period.

In the minister's view, is it a good thing or a bad thing that Saudi Arabia is on the UN women's human rights commission?

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, I appreciate the collegiality and the hockey references, but we only have 15 minutes. I want to get through some really substantive stuff, with all due respect.

Having Saudi Arabia on the UN women's rights commission, is that a good thing or a bad thing in the view of the Minister of Foreign Affairs?

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, I will be using my time to ask questions, and I want to start with a really easy one.

Saudi Arabia was just elected to the UN women's rights commission. On balance, does the minister think that is a good thing or a bad thing?

[Justice, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for giving a detailed summary of some of the context and some of the provisions of the bill. He is quite right in that it applies an established principle that when it comes to fundamental human rights, it is important for us to think in terms of extraterritorial action and extraterritorial jurisdiction.

I want to be very clear that I am open to amendments to this bill. We need to pass this through to committee. There is a lot of detail in it. The detail is important for ensuring that there is effective administration of the provisions that are in place, that we are actually not just saying that we are against organ harvesting, but we have a mechanism in place to address it concretely. I look forward to the work that the committee would do on this if we are able to pass it through to the committee.

The member did not say, and maybe this was part of the section that was cut off at the end, but maybe he will be able to assure us tonight that we can count on the support of the government at second reading so that we can move this important initiative forward again, which was initially proposed by Irwin Cotler, a former Liberal—