Statement made on 11 February 2009 by Senator Yoine Goldstein (retired)
Hon. Yoine Goldstein:
Honourable senators, Question Period terminated yesterday before I had a chance to ask a supplementary question in connection with Canada-U.S. relations and the Omar Khadr matter.
The honourable leader told us yesterday that Canada is "monitoring the situation." At virtually the same moment that the honourable leader was saying that to us in this chamber, Minister Cannon was telling the Foreign Affairs committee in the other place that this government had not looked at any options for repatriation and had not spent a dime examining the case against Omar Khadr.
We also know that Omar Khadr's lawyer, Lieutenant-Commander Kuebler, a courageous military man, was in Ottawa on Monday and twice requested a meeting with Minister Cannon but was not even afforded the courtesy of a return call. This is the very antithesis of monitoring.
Guantanamo Bay is being closed; the trials are not taking place; the other prisoners are being sent to other countries. Keeping track of the news on Guantanamo on television is not monitoring.
Exactly what is this government monitoring and how is it doing so if, as Minister Cannon has stated, the government is not even looking at this issue?
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