Mr. Speaker, my friend talked about supporting the charter. The NDP moved a series of amendments based on expert testimony from both security officials, people who head up some of our spy agencies, and human rights advocates. One of the amendments from the NDP was that Canada, by law, would not accept information that was garnered from torture, either directly from Canadian officials or indirectly through a third party government.
We have seen a number of cases over the years in which other governments that are open to the use of torture gather information that, as my friend would know, is not only inhumane in its procurement but also suspect in its veracity. The New Democrats moved an amendment through the committee process to make that illegal, to make it so that all Canadian officials who stand in this process, one way or the other, would be unable to accept such information, because we know that even accepting the information creates a culture in which torture is condoned in other countries around the world. One cannot do indirectly what one cannot do directly.
Why did the Liberals vote against this motion? The actual text of the motion was preferred by civil rights experts and those in the security establishment, who agree that Canada should never be on the receiving end of torture, either directly or indirectly, and use that information for the prosecution of any case. The Liberals voted against this. They talk about the charter. Is it too much to ask for the actual application of the Charter of Rights in the legislation that we pass in the House?
