Peter MacKay

[Foreign Affairs, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Peace River for his timely and very compassionate action in bringing this to our attention. We share that support and send condolences to the Toews family as well. We certainly find this event very tragic and troubling. The member brought this to our attention yesterday and simultaneously we received word from Mexico from family members.

We are remaining in contact with them, providing them assistance as well as focusing on having local authorities investigate this case and the cause of the injury. We wait for the police to report on that. The government remains very concerned about Canadians injured in Mexico. I raised this with my counterpart, as well as the president, Mr. Calderón. We continue to discuss this in the light of recent security and prosperity partnership meetings.

[Afghanistan, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps unlike the government when she was a member of the government, we are in regular contact with our NATO officials. I speak with the secretary general not only at forums when we attend on behalf of the country, but we speak regularly on the phone. He is going to be attending this summer, so she can ask him these questions herself if she likes.

Let me assure her and members of the House that we are in regular contact. We know our responsibilities under NATO. We are fulfilling those commitments, unlike that party when it was in government.

[Afghanistan, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know why this would come as a revelation to the member opposite, but I suspect that people such as the secretary general of NATO do read papers internationally. They would be well aware of the Parliament of Canada's pronouncement that the mission itself will run its course.

For the member opposite to stand in the House and to somehow suggest that this government is undermining the mission when each and every day members opposite get up and cast aspersions upon the mission, she should be ashamed of herself.

[Afghanistan, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, what has been distorted and completely torqued has been the comments by the member opposite. He stands up and now pretends to be the great defender of democracy. He has put more misinformation about the subject matter of detainees before the House in the last two weeks than anyone could imagine.

What is very curious is his position now in the House. Last week, when he was in Oslo, Norway at a NATO meeting, he said, “I was part of a government when at first we decided to go to Kabul and then we went to Kandahar, but now we support our government on that mission”. He was talking about supporting this government. What happened to that?

[Afghanistan, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows and members in the House are aware that this enhanced agreement has received much applause internationally. NATO is looking at this arrangement as one that fits the bill. This is very much aimed at protecting detainees. When Canadian detainees are turned over, there are now mechanisms in place, which we are putting through the official channels right now.

The member opposite is fully aware that Canada now has a much better arrangement than the one that his government had in place when he was in office.

[Afghanistan, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we have done when it comes to the responsibility of Canadian Forces. If it is Afghan forces, then the Afghan forces will follow their procedures. Clearly that is the situation.

We want to encourage the Afghan government to do everything possible to live up to its expectations. Canada as well has taken steps now to ensure that the new arrangement will enhance our capacity to track those prisoners, to see that the Afghans live up to those expectations.

This has been something that has been commended by other countries, that will be studied by other countries and I suspect that it will be modelled by other countries.

[Afghanistan, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, what the hon. member is saying is not correct.

What we have here clearly is a case of a detainee who was not in Canadian custody. He was arrested by Afghan police. Canadian soldiers did the responsible thing. They saw what was taking place. They acted in a humanitarian way to intervene, and he was later placed in Afghan custody again. This is something for which Canadian soldiers should be commended.

What we have in place now is a new system that will work better. It has been commended by others. It has taken the best of other countries' systems and incorporated them into one that will work extremely well to protect detainees.

[Afghanistan, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, unlike members opposite, we always put Canadian soldiers ahead of a government agenda. We put them first and foremost, central in our foreign policy, central in everything we do right now to ensure they get their work done. I want to credit the Minister of National Defence for having done his part to ensure that those men and women in uniform are getting the support the need.

When it comes to support, I want to quote the member opposite, whom I was with at a NATO meeting just last week, when he said in reference to the mission in Afghanistan:

I was part of the government when at first we decided to go to Kabul...and then we went to Kandahar...we support, of course, our government in that mission.

What happened to that support?

[Afghanistan, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, let me read for the member opposite so he will clearly understand. This is from the affidavit:

—as Colonel Noonan's affidavit indicates, there were no specific complaints received from CF members, humanitarian agencies, detainees or former detainees to the CF...

Therefore, it is very clear. What we are seeing consistently is an effort by members opposite to distort, to stir up, to misrepresent what went on. The invention of a scandal on the other side of the House is not cutting it. Canadians are not buying it, particularly from the member.

[Afghanistan, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I repeat again, what we have done is clean up the mess left in place by the previous government. We have now an enhanced agreement that allows for unfettered access. It allows for private access. It improves the relationship between the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. It improves access available by the Red Cross.

What we have done is improve the situation to do our very best to ensure that the Afghan government has the capacity and the ability to do its utmost to protect detainees.