House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2015, with 39% of the vote.
Business of Supply May 29th, 2008
Mr. Chair, I think the member should probably talk to the fund managers at the CPP because they certainly phoned me when I suggested we should have tougher sanctions with Burma. They have a longer list than he has, so he might want to check with them.
I will turn now to the UN. I would like to ask a very straightforward question of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Is Canada going to be pursuing a chair on the Security Council in the upcoming round, yes or no?
Business of Supply May 29th, 2008
Mr. Chair, I note that was not my question. I asked if the government could tell us how much investment there is, in dollar amounts, presently in Burma, not vis-à-vis the sanctions brought in. Hopefully the government knows that the sanctions were for any future investments, not existing investments. How much money does the Canada pension plan presently have invested in Burma? When I say presently invested in Burma, that is existing investments.
Will the government please tell the committee how much money the Canada pension plan has invested in Burma now?
Business of Supply May 29th, 2008
Mr. Chair, I think Canadians would be shocked and surprised to learn that the government on the one hand is claiming to have the toughest sanctions in the world vis-à-vis Burma and on the other hand is saying there is absolutely no method to monitor this to find out if that is the case.
Is there any way for the government to track at least what existing investments the Canada pension plan has in Burma? Is it aware of any Canadian investments of the Canada pension plan in Burma, yes or no?
Business of Supply May 29th, 2008
Mr. Chair, sadly, I am going to have to ask a question of the minister. If he is saying that this is too difficult and it is hard to track, then how is it that he can enforce the sanctions at all? What he is saying to us is that we have the toughest sanctions but it turns out to be a paper tiger because the departmental response is saying very directly there is no requirement for Canadian companies to register their business activities with the department. Are we to rely on Google? How is it that we are going to actually enforce the rules? How is the government going to enforce the rules on sanctions vis-à-vis Burma?
The last point I will suggest to him is that he has the tool in his hands. It is SEMA. The Special Economic Measures Act allows the government to tailor sanctions. It could, if it chose to, require all companies that are investing in Burma to register with the government and put the onus on them to pay for it. Why is the government not doing that?
Business of Supply May 29th, 2008
Mr. Chair, I am requesting that formally.
I would like to switch, now, to something that has already been brought up earlier by, I think, a member from the Liberal Party regarding Burma.
In fact, it was the order paper questions that I put forward and the responses from the government that established the following. When I asked the government what Canadian companies, individuals and public pension funds have direct investments in Burma, what is the total of those investments and how can we establish what Canadian companies have investments in Burma, the minister replied earlier that it was very difficult to track and if there was any way to do it, he would like to know and would like to hear suggestions. However, he was talking about indirect investments.
My question is about direct investments. According to the document I received, which was the government's response officially from the department, there is no requirement for Canadian companies to register their business activities with the department; sources of information are derived from various non-government organizations. Then it goes on about how it might get that.
My question is very specific. If this government were to suggest that it has the toughest sanctions on Burma, how could it do that when its own department is saying there is no requirement for Canadian companies to register at all vis-à-vis direct investment in Burma? Could the minister tell me how he can know what investments are in Burma when there is no requirement for Canadian companies to register direct investments in Burma?
Business of Supply May 29th, 2008
I hear cackles in the back, but I think Canadians want to know what the direction of the foreign affairs file is. I would like to ask the minister, is he willing to provide this committee with that document, yes or no?
Business of Supply May 29th, 2008
Mr. Chair, I thank the minister for narrowing things down a bit in his response. So, we have established that there is a document. We have established that this is the direction the government is going. Remember that the “Canada First” defence policy we had to kind of taper down to get that out as well. I just want to ask if he can provide us with a copy of that.
My question is: Could the minister provide this committee with a copy of the direction of his department?
Business of Supply May 29th, 2008
Mr. Chair, I appreciate the minister being new to this, but my question is very specific.
There has been a document produced by the department on its vision, not of trade but of foreign affairs. I am asking very specifically of the minister, does such a document exist and if he could share it with us? That is the question. It is not about the trade side; it is about a document being provided for him and Canadians would like to know where this government is going on foreign affairs.
That is my question. I would appreciate an answer.
Business of Supply May 29th, 2008
Mr. Chair, I want to begin by congratulating the member, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, on his new appointment.
I am tempted to ask him the same question I asked the previous minister of foreign affairs, and that is, who is the president Haiti, but I am sure he knows who that is.
Seriously, I understand there is a policy document that has been produced by the deputy minister of foreign affairs which outlines the government's vision for the future of the Department of Foreign Affairs. Canadians want to know where this government is going in foreign affairs. So, my question is very simple. Could the minister confirm that a document has been written about the future of foreign affairs with this government and if so, could he provide it for us?
National Defence May 16th, 2008
Mr. Speaker, on another note, when it came to advocacy groups, the government was happy to cut funding for child care groups and women's groups. It was no problem because they were doing advocacy. However, when it comes to selling the war, it lets the taxpayer dollars flow. It turns on the taps.
The government should know that it is not acceptable. We have now learned that we have a contract with the CDA that is pegged to a performance contract. This is the same kind of philosophy the Bush administration had, and it failed miserably.
Will the government stop funding these propaganda machines and stop trying to sell a war—