Lawrence Cannon

[Afghanistan, April 14th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, that is completely false. When the government was able to look at allegations or when allegations were made, it took action. As members are aware, we have put in place a new system for transferring Taliban detainees to the Afghan authorities, who give us access at any time. In the event of a problem, we interrupt the transfer.

[Rights & Democracy, April 14th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind my hon. colleague that it was not the government that awarded the contracts. If she wants that information, she will have to ask the board of directors, who, as I said, have had an opportunity to appear before the parliamentary committee. And they will appear again if they are called as witnesses.

[Rights & Democracy, April 14th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind my hon. colleague that Rights & Democracy is an arm's-length organization run by its board of directors and that its staff are not part of the public service. The parliamentary committee is meeting as we speak, giving it the opportunity to ask the board of directors all the questions it likes. I invite my colleague to do so.

[Democratic reform, March 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, if it were only the Bloc, Quebec would have no seats in the House of Commons in Ottawa. That is clear.

But to all Quebeckers who are proud to be Canadian, I can say that we are protecting the number of seats. The Bloc Québécois will definitely not be the ones giving lessons on representing Quebec here in the House.

[Democratic reform, March 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we remain committed to ensuring fair representation in the House of Commons for provinces that are growing more quickly and to guaranteeing the number of seats for the other provinces.

[Afghanistan, March 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, former Justice Iacobucci is a well-respected individual whom everybody in this House has no doubt about in terms of his competence. We have called upon him to undertake an independent, comprehensive and proper review. Let Justice Iacobucci do his job.

[Afghanistan, March 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, in the case of allegations, senior Canadian Forces leadership immediately ordered investigations into all of these. The Canadian Forces make sure that any allegation put forward is looked into, and all of these investigations determine whether or not the allegations are founded or unfounded, but up to now, all allegations have been unfounded.

[Afghanistan, March 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, first, we have complied with the initial agreement to transfer all documents that we were allowed by law to release. We have done that.

Second, a few weeks ago, we announced that Justice Frank Iacobucci will also be undertaking an independent, comprehensive review of the documents related to Taliban detainees.

With what we have done, I think that light can be shed on the matter, and this light will—

[Afghanistan, March 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, that is absolutely not the case. Almost three years ago, we corrected a situation and replaced the existing agreement on the transfer of detainees. The Canadian process of transferring Taliban detainees to the authorities has evolved and improved over the years.

Let us not forget how much this was criticized when the Liberals were in power. We replaced that system with a more robust and rigorous system that allows transferred detainees to be visited at any time.

[Afghanistan, March 26th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the members of the opposition have asked us for the documents many times. We have made these documents public. We have transferred the documents that we are allowed to make public by law. Such documents have been made public in the past and we will continue to make them public.