Paul Dewar

[Foreign Affairs, May 16th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, that answer is not good enough. I warned the minister last week about the problems with Canada's sanctions.

Conservatives said, “We will not shape our foreign policy to commercial interests”, but now they are saying, “We will also look out for Canada's broader interests.” They cannot have it both ways.

The government's rhetoric is very tough, so why will Conservatives not implement strong and coordinated sanctions against Russia? Why will it not put Putin's buddies on the list?

[Foreign Affairs, May 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear under international law that no one shall be subjected to torture. On this point, the United Nations has called on Canada to bring its ministerial directives in line with the international ban on torture, but the Conservatives have not listened and in fact have refused to sign the optional protocol on torture.

When will the government sign this United Nations agreement and help end torture once and for all?

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I found myself agreeing with some of the member's points. He was supporting our argument on this side. He talked about the importance of regions and about the need for funding to support regions and about the mandate. Those are very important. Those are good facts that he put forward on the record.

Some facts to come back to are that following the 2012 budget, we saw that the cuts to public funding left the budget at $1.025 billion. To give members some context on the record, in 1996 the corporation received $1.07 billion. Therefore, we have seen the funding cut since 2012 versus 1996, where we saw major cuts from the previous government.

Then the 2014 budget cuts were $82 million for English, $42 million for French services, and $4.7 million for corporate services.

Those are just some facts on the table.

I want to leave the member with this question. Current River councillor Andrew Foulds, who represents a ward in Thunder Bay, is concerned about the regional representation that my colleague put on the record. He said the city is calling on the CBC to cancel all programming staff cuts in Thunder Bay and he sent a resolution of the council to the government.

What does the member say to people like Andrew Foulds, who is representing his community, about the fact that these cuts would hurt the regional representation that the member put on the record as being the mandate of the CBC?

[Foreign Affairs, May 14th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are deeply concerned about the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria. We all want to make sure these girls are returned safely to their families. Canadians also want detailed information about the assistance our government is offering to the government of Nigeria.

The U.S. has laid out its help in great detail. Will the minister please do the same and let Canadians know precisely what help our government is providing to rescue these young girls?

[Foreign Affairs, May 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, last month the Sri Lankan government launched a smear campaign against international civil society groups, including ones right here in Canada. These groups helped lead the successful push for an international independent investigation into the atrocities committed during the Sri Lankan civil war.

What action is the government taking to protect peaceful Canadian citizens from the Sri Lankan ban? Will the minister consider targeted sanctions against those responsible for abuses and repression, as was recommended by the foreign affairs committee in 2009?

[Kidnapping of Girls in Nigeria, May 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to pass on my thoughts to my colleague who shared with us a very deep personal story. I thank him for bringing that to the debate because it is personal stories and individual situations that really compel people to speak out and to be heard. I thank him for sharing that with us because I know that probably is not an easy thing to do.

On the R2P file, many countries have appointed focal points. We have seen the centre for R2P out of the United States pushing this. It might be a way to help coordinate these issues. Clearly it did not prevent what happened in Nigeria, but getting to the idea of preventing these things from happening again and the whole idea that the member has put on the floor of an R2P approach that one thing Canada could very practically do is to appoint a focal point on that issue in particular, the responsibility to protect.

[Kidnapping of Girls in Nigeria, May 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the different comments we heard from around the world are interesting. My colleague mentioned some very prominent people who spoke and used, as he said, the hashtag diplomacy, and by the way, I agree with him on his comments.

A young girl also spoke out, the young girl who captured all of our imaginations, Malala. She said very eloquently and simply that if we remain silent, this will happen more and more. She really nailed it. We all have to speak out again this to make sure it does not happen again.

I want to ask my colleague what more we can do. One of the things we have done in the past, and it was actually with Nigerian personnel, was in the AU-UN mission in Darfur. We trained Nigerians to help in that mission, particularly around police training, something the Nigerian government obviously needs help with. Knowing the background, would he think this is something we could help with?

Secondly, where does he believe Canada should be in terms of the global education fund? We have asked that his party support the ongoing commitment to Global Partnership for Education to the tune of $30 million—

[Kidnapping of Girls in Nigeria, May 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of questions for the parliamentary secretary.

One thing that should be noted is that Nigeria has now surpassed South Africa in the most recent data that just came out, in terms of economic growth, but yet it has 10 million children who are not in school. Clearly, there is a lot to be leveraged and a lot to do there.

Beyond what we have already heard, is the government intending to provide more support, or has it been asked for more support by the Nigerian government, other than the logistics? That is the first question. Is other support being asked for and are we going to be providing more support?

Second, has the government decided whether to go to the conference in France? As one of the participating countries, we obviously have a role to play. The second question is on whether the government is intending to go to the conference.

I know there is limited time, but we can get into it later. This is about the whole region. Canada has been involved in certain activities. It is co-chairing the whole response to terrorism. Could the parliamentary secretary elaborate a bit more on what our intentions are to help with regard to this specific situation?

[Kidnapping of Girls in Nigeria, May 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, yes. We should build on what has already been asked for, which is the support that the Nigerian government has asked for in terms of surveillance. We could also do what we have done in the past, particularly in Darfur. In fact, we trained Nigerian officials and members of the military and police to conduct surveillance better. We can do that. We did that to train Nigerian forces in the case of Darfur.

That is something that we could bring to the table, to make sure that they are going conduct this rescue in a responsible manner, one that will not aggravate things even more. We could also finally look at supporting education on the ground, to help those 10 million Nigerian children who, as I said, do not have access to school at all right now.

[Kidnapping of Girls in Nigeria, May 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is really important that the United Nations be seized with this, as we all are. Part of what has happened and can happen is listing Boko Haram as a terrorist entity and looking at the funding that it might receive through other channels. Through the UN, there are ways in which it can be listed, which it has, as well as any groups that are supporting it. Of course, we would support that.

However, as I said before, it needs to be a very coordinated approach. That is why it is important for the government. Hopefully it already has plans to attend the conference that President Hollande has brought forward. It is a good idea, for reasons that were mentioned by my colleague. In other words, we have to make sure that we have a coordinated response globally, as well as on the ground.