Lawrence Cannon

[Youth Mobility Agreement, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, as well, under Standing Order 32(2), I have the pleasure of tabling an agreement between Canada and Spain on youth mobility programs, signed in Ottawa on March 10, 2009.

[Intellectual Property Rights, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, under the provisions of Standing Order 32(2), I have the pleasure to table, in both official languages, the treaty known as the Protocol Amending the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, signed in Geneva on December 6, 2005. An explanatory memorandum is included with the treaty.

[Afghanistan, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague can shout until his lungs are blue but, to make it quite clear, we do have people on the ground. Our ambassador, Ambassador Hoffman, and our officials are actually intervening with the government. Those are the people who are responsible to this House and to this government. They are giving us the information and they are putting in practice what we have asked them to do.

As for what this government is doing in Afghanistan, as for what our men and women are doing in Afghanistan and as for what we are doing in terms of aid, I ask the member to go and see exactly what we are doing to help and promote women's rights.

[Afghanistan, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, when this issue was first brought to our attention, the Prime Minister, as well as government officials, acted very swiftly. We intervened vis-à-vis the Afghan government. We have the assurances, not only from the president but from the whole of cabinet that the Afghan government will be reviewing this piece of legislation.

I want to remind my colleague that it is not a piece of legislation that is in force. The Afghan government is reviewing the legislation and it will take out of the legislation every individual aspect that is counter to its constitution and to the human rights of every individual.

[Foreign Affairs, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, my thoughts and those of my colleagues are with the family and friends of Karine Blais, who will be laid to rest today.

We will appeal the decision. This individual was arrested for serious crimes, including setting bombs. We will study the decision and likely—

[Foreign Affairs, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I absolutely disagree with my colleague's preamble. We are considering appealing the decision once we have examined it.

It is important to remember that this individual has been accused of very serious crimes, Yesterday, a news program on the English networks showed this man apparently in the process of making the same sort of bombs that have taken the lives of a number of our soldiers, including Karine Blais, who died last week.

[Sri Lanka, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his support on this issue.

As the House knows, we are very active on the file. We have seen this issue take place over the course of the last couple of decades. As a matter of fact, it is a conflict that has left a lot of civilian casualties. A lot of families are heartbroken by this.

We have called upon our allies. I have personally called upon Ban Ki-moon as well as David Miliband and others to help and step up the humanitarian aid. That is what is uppermost now.

[Foreign Affairs, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, my response is straightforward: this man has been accused of very serious crimes. Last night, we saw video footage of him building bombs to kill Afghans, civilians and Canadian soldiers.

We will analyze the court's decision, and we will most likely appeal it.

[Foreign Affairs, April 24th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to see my colleague from Toronto Centre. We have not seen each other for the last couple of weeks.

On this specific issue, Omar Khadr faces very serious charges. We all know that. As a matter of fact, last night we were able to see television footage of Mr. Khadr's alleged building and planting of explosive devices that were actually planted in Afghanistan. Those devices are the devices that basically have taken the lives of young Canadian men and women.

[Foreign Affairs, April 23rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has clearly indicated that we obviously will review the decision and very seriously examine the possibility of appealing it.