Jean Chrétien

[Iraq, March 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote to the possible leader of the fifth party, and with their attitude they will remain in the corner for a long time, because this was what the chair of the Conservative caucus had to say about the flip-flop of the leader of the fifth party:

Well you know I felt very comfortable taking that position because we had taken the position back a number of weeks ago that we would not support Canada's involvement in this war without a UN Resolution approving it. And somewhere along the line, that decision became derailed and changed.

This is the position of the fifth party. It has absolutely no credibility.

[Iraq, March 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, as I explained yesterday in the House, our ambassador is working to ensure that aid and reconstruction will be done in a multilateral way. By the way, today the minister for international development will announce that the Government of Canada is making $100 million at the disposition of the United Nations to help with the humanitarian aid that is needed there.

[Iraq, March 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we have a very clear position, and of course we have ships in the ocean there, doing their job in relation to the war against terrorism in Afghanistan. We have been there for a year and we will continue to do the duty that we have accepted, which is part of the war against terrorism. That is exactly what they are doing.

The people who are involved in flying in AWACS planes are covering many countries in their surveillance, not only one country. They are doing the job today that they have been doing for many months.

[Iraq, March 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I think I have made the government's position on this clear. These are soldiers taking part in an exchange with American, British and Australian troops, and their duties are performed within that framework. According to the information available to us, they are not part of the attack forces involved in the war.

[Iraq, March 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, because we say that changing the regime is not the right policy, should I conclude that he is supporting the government of North Korea because we are not going to war against it? Is he supporting the regime in Zimbabwe because we are not declaring war against Zimbabwe?

There are international situations. We believe in multilateralism. We believe that the United Nations is there to play a positive role. We are not there to attack everybody. We are there to make sure that we have peace. We have worked very hard to have a peaceful resolution of that conflict.

[Iraq, March 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, on the question of the diplomats who are in Canada, the Minister of Foreign Affairs gave a very good answer on that subject a few days ago.

[Iraq, March 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the people of the United States know very well that on September 11 in the first hour of their great difficulties, the Canadian people received in their homes 40,000 Americans who had no place to land.

The people of the United States and the government knew very well that when they asked us to fight terrorism, we were the first ones to go there and we put troops in to fight terrorism in Afghanistan.

The people of the United States are aware that we have had ships there for months protecting navigation in that very difficult place so that we can help in the fight against terrorism.

We disagree on one element but on most of--

[Iraq, March 25th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I am surprised that the hon. member is willing to look so foolish. He witnessed the vote in the House a few days ago. There was nothing ambiguous about it.

[Iraq, March 25th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member does not realize that we had made some commitments concerning the war on terror and are collaborating with the United States in this regard. Our ships and planes were sent there over a year ago to fight against terrorism and to restore order in Afghanistan.

We are very proud of Canada's contribution. Geographically, Afghanistan and Iraq are on opposite sides of the gulf or, if you prefer, the sea; we are there to fight against terrorism, and we are very proud of our role.

[Canada-U.S. Relations, March 25th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the ambassador said that he was disappointed that we are not in agreement with the Americans, and we are disappointed that we could not agree. If there had been more work done at the UN, we might have been able to agree. We can disagree, but he said that the relations between Canada and the United States are very important and have to remain strong. I appreciate that he said that to a Toronto businessmen's group this morning.