Kevin Sorenson

[National Security, October 26th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about the money that was put in since the budget. The budget was so long ago, we cannot remember.

SIRC reports that CSIS is so overloaded with work that it can take years to determine if potential newcomers to our country pose a security threat. This was occurring long before September 11. Since then its workload has increased dramatically.

Again, I ask the solicitor general this. When will CSIS receive the necessary funding to hire more agents so no one slips into this country who poses a threat to the safety and security of Canadians?

[National Security, October 26th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, first the solicitor general claims the RCMP and CSIS are adequately funded and staffed. Then he jumps on his soapbox explaining why there is a need to throw more money into the security forces. The fact is he is the one who gutted them in the first place. Now police and CSIS investigations are being sidelined because the RCMP does not have enough manpower.

Will the solicitor general stop playing a shell game with the RCMP and immediately ensure that it has adequate personnel so nothing is put on the back burner?

[National Security, October 25th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, how can the solicitor general brag about his paltry increases to the RCMP? The reality is the RCMP has faced a decade of cuts and lost personnel. He is the solicitor general who gutted its resources. The remaining members are spread too thin and are left begging for adequate resources.

With the responsibilities expanded, does the solicitor general not understand that stable, long term funding is essential, especially with the added threat of terrorism?

[National Security, October 25th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP under the Liberal government has suffered unprecedented cuts, with $175 million slashed from its budget and 2,200 job losses. How can the solicitor general boast about his new funding when RCMP detachments across the land are left begging for more money and adequate personnel?

[National Security, October 24th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, he also said that they were having to risk manage the threats and that they were also taking certain responsibilities off the table.

I would like to ask the solicitor general about the $10 million in increased funding for CSIS over the past few years. Virtually all the funding restored to CSIS has gone into new technology. According to a former high ranking CSIS member, the intelligence operations are in desperate need of skilled analysts to go through the mountain of information they have.

Will the solicitor general ensure the necessary analysts are hired so that all the information CSIS gathers--

[National Security, October 24th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, little or none of the money that was announced last week by the government for the RCMP will be used to hire new agents.

This was confirmed yesterday when the commissioner of the RCMP came before committee. He said that it could use more money. This contradicts the solicitor general's assertion that the RCMP is adequately resourced.

I ask the solicitor general, will the RCMP, given its increased responsibilities and mandates, be receiving additional funds to hire and train more frontline officers for the fight against terrorism?

[Terrorism, October 23rd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, no one is jumping to conclusions. The evidence is pointing to the conclusions.

There is more on the Canadian connection. France has demanded the extradition of Abdellah Ouzghar, an associate of Ahmed Ressam. Ouzghar has been identified as a ringleader of a passport forging operation.

Canada was deliberately chosen because of the ease in which to pull off such an operation. Does the government admit the terrorists are using Canada as a venue of opportunity because of its lax laws?

[Terrorism, October 23rd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, in the month following the September 11 attack our solicitor general spent most of his time denying the Canadian connection.

Let us look at the facts. Al-Marabh, the former Toronto resident, has been identified by the FBI as one of four key suspects in the attack on America. The RCMP is searching for another 10 to 12 key suspects in the Toronto area. Three suspects have been arrested in Fort McMurray, one a refugee claimant with up to 15 different aliases.

Will the solicitor general finally end the denial and admit there is a huge Canadian connection?

[Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act, October 22nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I would gladly answer his question in the question and comment period. If he wants to take a look at the bill, he can take a look at proposed section 10.1 and he will very clearly find the reference we are drawing attention to.

Getting back to the committee meeting we were referring to, the member for Scarborough--Rouge River believed that if the committee conducted such an inquiry with the police investigation still in process the RCMP's case might be jeopardized, but the members did agree that at some point down the road an inquiry should be done.

Guess what, we are still waiting and, believe it or not, time has not diminished the memories or the magnitude of this scandalous affair. In fact, now the question is not just the scandalous affair. It is the question of a possible cover-up.

As I am accustomed to doing in the House, I would like to quote from an article that appeared in the Edmonton Sun of November 25, 1997. I do so because it is important to demonstrate that the opinions of this side of the House are shared by others. The article states:

There should be a thorough and public fumigating of the events surrounding the $1.8 billion purchase of European Airbus passenger jets by Air Canada during Mulroney's tenure.

But not solely for the reasons stated by Mulroney in his interview.

The purpose of the inquiry in the former PM's eyes is to get to the bottom of who knew what in Ottawa--with the trail of incriminating evidence hopefully leading right to the prime minister's office.

There certainly is an air of incredibility surrounding the incident which would have Canadians believe that a lowly RCMP sergeant was flying solo when he requested the damning letter to Swiss banking authorities--the letter wherein Mulroney and other top former PC officials were implicated...We can't blame Mulroney for attempting to clear his name while at the same time holding the feet of his political tormentors to the fire...Sadly, there appears to be an unwritten rule in federal politics that governments don't go digging into the excesses of the previous regime. If only to prevent receiving the same treatment when they get booted from office.

Ottawa's cosy code appears to have been broken in the Airbus affair. And so it should have been—which is the second reason why a comprehensive probe is a good idea. The allegations in the affair, if proven, would amount to one of the biggest political scandals in Canadian history.

That's why it's absolutely necessary to assure Canadians that they aren't true.

This clearly will not happen if left to the footdragging of the Ottawa Liberals—who now have as much to answer for regarding their own behaviour as they do in seeing the RCMP investigation carried out with commitment and vigor. A thorough, comprehensive and independent inquiry into all aspects of the Airbus affair is an excellent idea. Canadians needs to know the truth.

That said, given what passes for government in Ottawa these days, there are only two chances of such an inquiry happening. And slim just left town.

In other words, what the article is saying is that the chances of that happening with this federal Liberal government are next to nothing.

It is absolutely imperative that every member of government, up to and including the Prime Minister, is subject to the laws of the land. The public must be confident that the federal government is not above the law. I thereby call upon the Liberal government to immediately bring in legislation clearly defining the role and independence of the RCMP in law enforcement.

I also call upon the government to properly and effectively respond to the Hughes report and all of its recommendations, not bury the truth as is customary for the government. Repeatedly the government has, when convenient or necessary, held back or shut down inquiries. We do not need to go back to all the different inquiries that it has brought these types of things into and then forgotten about. We know about the blood scandal and the Krever report. We know about the defence minister shutting down the Somalia inquiry. We know about all the other inquiries that have come forward and that the government has put a lid on.

In regard to the bill we again call on the government to make changes and to put some of them in the RCMP Act, not just in the bill.

[Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act, October 22nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate your intervention. If you take a look at the summary of the bill, it clearly states:

The enactment further provides that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has the primary responsibility to ensure the security for the proper functioning of intergovernmental conferences.

This refers to APEC. I am sure that if this member would listen he would hear very clearly. He has to read the bill to see the correlation.

I would ask, because of the impropriety shown by the member, that at least a few minutes of my time be put back. I can spend that time instructing the minister or the member because he is not a minister on the RCMP and how it is related to the bill. He is in the back row where he will probably sit forever. The member for Scarborough--Rouge River believed that if the committee--