Wayne Marston

[Foreign Affairs, January 26th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, for years, we have seen human rights take a back seat under these Conservatives. Now, we have the case of Raif Badawi, a free-speech activist in Saudi Arabia, condemned to 1,000 lashes for making a website, and the minister waited until after he had 50 of those lashes before speaking out about his concerns over the flogging.

Members will know that Canadians expect their government to speak out loudly and clearly on human rights abuses, wherever they are.

To the minister, starting here, today, will you send an unambiguous message to the Government of Saudi Arabia that Mr. Badawi must—

[Public Safety, December 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the release of the U.S. torture report is a critical moment for all countries to reaffirm the absolute categorical rejection of torture, yet under the Conservatives, Canadian security agencies have gone from rejecting information obtained by torture and having policies in place to identify tainted information to an order that allows such information to be used and shared, even at the risk that it will lead to torture in other countries.

Why does the minister continue to condone torture by proxy through this directive?

[Victims Bill of Rights, December 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the first proposal for victims' rights support came in 1996. There have been nine years of this government with no action to date, and it was 10 years for the previous government. It has been close to 20 years with no real, substantive action.

In the presentation of this bill, there is no real move for funding for the kind of support needed to properly implement it. Even when we get this to committee and work on it, we not only have to have a plan but we need to have budgetary measures to ensure that we can deliver on that plan. I would like to hear the member's comments on that.

[Victims Bill of Rights, December 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I say for my friend from Sudbury that clearly our critic for justice, the member for Gatineau, will be working hard with the government to try to improve this bill. There have been a lot of criminal experts, like Clayton Ruby, who have spoken out in articles in the news media regarding this bill. He has said that the victims need rehabilitative programs, services, and compensation from the government and that the government has dropped all of those expensive demands in favour of “shallow symbolism”.

This bill, as it sits, is kind of a hollow shell of what we actually need. Therefore, I am looking forward to the hard work that our friend from Gatineau will do to try to improve this bill. I am sure the member for Sudbury will have some ideas to offer her as well.

[Human Rights, December 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, today we celebrate the 66th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly's unanimous adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is a time to celebrate our equal rights to freedom, equality, and justice, as established under the universal declaration and the law. However, it is also an opportunity to reiterate our commitment to promoting and advancing these concepts in our society.

New Democrats believe that upholding human rights must be a central organizing principle of Canada's domestic and foreign policy. In many places around the world, people continue to be persecuted for their beliefs, their ideals, and their convictions. We need to keep working to protect those fundamental freedoms as they continue to come under threat and to be abused.

Today and every day, we must commit to protecting human rights and to building a more just and prosperous society in Canada and around the world.

[Yukon and Nunavut Regulatory Improvement Act, December 4th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, to my friend from Winnipeg North, there are numerous times in the House when we have not agreed on things, but this is one of the times that we are in agreement.

When the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board was first envisioned and put together, there was 60 to 70 days' worth of hearings across the north. I have to give credit that it was under a Liberal government when that took place.

Bill S-6 is coming from the Senate. However, the Senate did not do any travel for it. However, if the committee chooses to travel, the NDP will support that travel. I would ask the member very clearly, would he support such an idea by the Liberals?

[Justice for Animals in Service Act (Quanto's Law), November 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question, because that takes us back again to earlier in the debate when our friend from Timmins—James Bay was talking about the imbalance, as he saw it, in the priorities of this government, where we have bill after bill with significant, complicated issues getting time allocation. It in fact is in excess of 80.

I do not want to minimize the fact that it is important to take care of the service animals that the police use, and the search and rescue animals, and we support this bill in essence. However, we find it interesting that bills that have very significant issues with which Canadians are very concerned are pushed aside with time allocation, and the bill before us is getting a lot more time, and it should be just sent to committee.

[Justice for Animals in Service Act (Quanto's Law), November 28th, 2014]

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, at the end of the week I think we are subject to distraction much more easily.

My friend was talking about how the resources are applied or not applied. The implicit part of his question was whether or not the government had gone over the top.

I will use an example of mandatory minimums in the state of Texas. Texas is seen around the world as one of the more aggressive states in the American union relative to crime and punishment. Prisons are actually being closed in the state of Texas because of the failure of this program.

I think it is important that, when the bill goes to committee, it gets the examination it really, truly deserves.

[Justice for Animals in Service Act (Quanto's Law), November 28th, 2014]

I am sorry. I am totally distracted by this, Mr. Speaker.

[Justice for Animals in Service Act (Quanto's Law), November 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am trying to refresh my memory on my friend's question.

The reality is that there are often times—excuse me, Mr. Speaker, but oftentimes in the application—