Prohibiting Cluster Munitions Act

Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, this is a really important bill, because it is Canada’s opportunity to show the community of nations that we are committed still to our role in the world that we established through the Ottawa process to deal with landmines and that on cluster munitions, we are prepared to implement the treaty, not just with a fingers-crossed-behind-our-back commitment but fully and in the spirit and letter of the treaty.

I agree with everything my hon. colleague said. I would ask him whether he does not agree that we should have implemented treaty language in Bill C-6.

Dany Morin: Mr. Speaker, my colleague’s question is a good one.

When we make amendments to a bill, we must indeed put them in the right place and have the right definition for them. If we were talking about a specific amendment, I could answer my colleague’s question in greater depth. However, she reminds us of the importance of the principle of the convention.

Canada has a strange relationship with the convention it has signed. Of the 113 countries that have signed the convention, only 84 have ratified it. Canada signed the convention on December 3, 2008, and the implementing legislation was introduced in the House of Commons on December 15, 2012. Even though the government has taken some action, it is deplorable for it to be trying get out of it with regard to clause 11.

Print this page