Thomas Mulcair

[Foreign Affairs, March 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister of Canada thinks he is above international law also. He is not, and Canada is not. That is all we have.

World leaders are taking up the cause of Raif Badawi, the Saudi Arabian writer who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for creating a pro-democracy blog.

I had the opportunity to meet with Ensaf Haidar, Mr. Badawi's wife, who lives in Sherbrooke with their three children. One cannot help but be moved by her courage.

With so much support for Mr. Badawi, what is keeping the Prime Minister, to whom I wrote about this issue, from doing something to secure this man's release so that he can be reunited with his family here in Canada?

[Foreign Affairs, March 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, today, the Punjab Legislative Assembly passed a unanimous motion calling on Canada to apologize for the Komagata Maru incident.

The Komagata Maru is a dark moment in Canadian history. The ship was turned away simply because its passengers were from India. Upon returning home, many were arrested or killed.

Will the Prime Minister finally do the right thing, acknowledge this horrific tragedy, and apologize in this House for the Komagata Maru?

[National Defence, March 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, extraordinary. Living in a Canada where that sort of idiocy passes for argument in the House of Parliament.

[National Defence, March 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, that means the answer is no. They never received a request for military intervention in Syria from Iraq, unlike the Americans, who indicated as much in their letter to the United Nations.

Let us stay with the United Nations because the Prime Minister says that he is following the U.S. model here. The United States wrote to the Secretary-General, as required under article 51 of the UN charter, and laid out its legal case for its planned intervention in Syria.

Has the Prime Minister written to the United Nations, laying out Canada's justification for its planned intervention in Syria?

[National Defence, March 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, precisely in Samantha Power's letter to His Excellency Ban Ki-moon on September 23, she says that that is the American justification; that they are helping Iraq and it is at the request of Iraq that they are going into Syria.

The question for us, then, is this:

Did Canada receive a formal request for military intervention in Syria from the Iraqi government, yes or no?

[National Defence, March 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the foreign affairs minister claimed that Canada's legal basis for bombing in Syria was “the same basis as the Americans”. The United States justification for war in Syria is that it is defending the Iraqi government.

Does the Prime Minister stand by that?

[National Defence, March 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the question was, on what legal basis?

One cannot hide behind someone else's actions. This is about Canada. What is the Prime Minister of Canada basing himself on? What is the legal authority for bombing in that country?

[National Defence, March 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, we have ground troops targeting for air strikes. We have aircraft strafing and bombing. We have lost a Canadian soldier behind enemy lines. Our forces are being shot at.

Why does the Prime Minister still deny that our soldiers are in combat?

[National Defence, March 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, what is the Prime Minister's exit strategy?

[National Defence, March 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, how many soldiers, in total, will participate in the new mission?