Go to The Globe and Mail

 

Blogs

Featured:

Transport Minister John Baird speaks during Question Period on Friday, November 20, 2009.

Thursday, November 26, 2009 4:54 PM

Harper to press Uganda
on 'abhorrent' anti-gay law

Jane Taber

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will strongly condemn a proposed Ugandan anti-gay law when he meets with Commonwealth leaders tomorrow in Trinidad.

The law that proposes strict sanctions on gays and lesbians, including life imprisonment for homosexuals, is threatening to overshadow the bi-annual conference.

Transport Minister John Baird made the announcement today in Question Period in answer to demands by NDP MP Bill Siksay that the Prime Minister meet “face-to-face” with the Ugandan leader “to help stop this bill.”

“The current legislation before Parliament in Uganda is vile, it’s abhorrent. It’s offensive. It offends Canadian values. It offends decency. We strongly condemn that and the Prime Minister will make that strong condemnation as well,” Mr. Baird said.

Uganda is, of course, a member of the Commonwealth. The Ugandan President is expected to attend the meetings.

The Baird-Siksay exchange provided the one nugget of real news in a Question Period otherwise dominated by accusations and denials about allegations of torture of Afghan detainees.

Once again the opposition was calling on the government to release memos and documents related to the allegations of torture. The government has so far refused.

“We are asked to do our work blindfolded and in the dark,” charged Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae. In that case, Mr. Rae argued the correct course of action would be to hold a public inquiry in which all would be revealed.

“We need to get at the truth,” Mr. Rae said. “Why is the government afraid of a public inquiry? What is it about the truth that this government is afraid of?”

The Transport Minister wouldn’t bite. Rather, he attempted to turn the tables on Mr. Rae by denouncing the Liberals for sending out a fundraising letter that he and his party say criticizes the military.

“I know he would believe that raising money on the backs of our men and women in uniform by maligning Canada is wrong,” Mr. Baird said. “I would call on him [to] … stand up in this place and call those types of shameless fundraising tactics wrong for what they are.”

The Prime Minister was not in the chamber today. He is on his way to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff was also absent as he was in Quebec City delivering a speech on climate change.

News coverage of Mr. Ignatieff’s midday speech was trumped by Mr. Harper’s announcement – made as he was boarding his jet to travel to Trinidad – that he has changed his mind and will be attending the environmental summit in Copenhagen after all.

NDP Leader Jack Layton, who is also attending the UN conference, raised environmental concerns in Question Period today:

“We are glad that the Prime Minister is finally taking this issue seriously and has taken his head out of the tar sands,” Mr. Layton said. “The question is: Is he going with any plan? So far, we have seen no plan even though it was promised by the Minister of the Environment.”

Mr. Baird said that the Prime Minister “will be there to forcefully argue for a strong agreement.”

(Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Latest Comments

See also:

Latest posts from the Ottawa Notebook

Tories target Liberal 'disdain for the Canadian Forces' 7:07 PM EST

As Olympic clock ticks down, opposition feud heats up 5:58 PM EST

Why is Schwarzenegger a torchbearer? 3:45 PM EST

Harper and Ignatieff take gold in Olympic flip-flop 12:30 PM EST

Canada hopes to own the podium in perpetuity 8:34 AM EST

Murder charges put DND in 'state of shock' Feb 08, 2010 2:53PM EST

Latest posts from the Ottawa Notebook

Brian Topp

Mr. Giambrone and the Toronto Star 1:39 PM EST

Tim Powers

Gotcha Giambrone 1:38 PM EST

Adam Radwanski

The Giambrone precedent 3:08 PM EST

Norman Spector

Charest’s been blowing smoke on tailpipe emissions 9:36 AM EST

Douglas Bell

Is politics everything? Feb 08, 2010 4:33PM EST

Parliament on pause

Globe editorial

Silent Parliament, forgotten roots Jan 30, 2010 3:41AM EST

From our readers

Your pics from prorogation protests Jan 25, 2010 2:00PM EST

Audio comments

Does prorogation matter? Feb 05, 2010 8:05AM EST

Interactive profiles

House of Commons seat map Feb 03, 2010 1:28PM EST

Interactive Glossary

Prorogation primer: Shutting down the House Feb 03, 2010 1:27PM EST

Parliament on pause

Ottawa Notebook Contributors

Jane Taber, senior political writer

Jane Taber

Jane Taber has been on Parliament Hill since the Mulroney days, first writing for the Ottawa Citizen in 1986. Since then, she's reported for a small television network, WTN, and for the National Post before joining The Globe’s parliamentary bureau in 2002. She is the senior political writer and also co-host of Question Period, which airs Sundays on CTV.

 
John Ibbitson

John Ibbitson

John Ibbitson started at The Globe in 1999 and has been Queen's Park columnist and Ottawa political affairs correspondent. Most recently, he was a correspondent and columnist in Washington, where he wrote Open and Shut: Why America has Barack Obama and Canada has Stephen Harper. He returned to Ottawa as bureau chief in 2009. Before joining The Globe, he worked as a reporter, columnist and Queen’s Park correspondent for Southam papers.

 

Steven Chase

Steven Chase has covered federal politics in Ottawa for The Globe since mid-2001. He's previously worked in the paper's Vancouver and Calgary bureaus. Prior to that, he reported on Alberta politics for the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, and on national issues for Alberta Report. He's had ink-stained hands for far longer though, having worked as a paperboy for the (now defunct) Montreal Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Vancouver Sun and the North Shore News.

 
Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Campbell Clark

Campbell Clark

Campbell Clark has been a political writer in The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau since 2000. Before that he worked for The Montreal Gazette and the National Post. He writes about Canadian politics and foreign policy. He stopped being fascinated by ShamWow commercials after that guy’s nasty incident in Florida, but still wonders if one can really pull a truck with that Mighty Putty stuff.

 

Bill Curry

A member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery since 1999, Bill Curry worked for The Hill Times and the National Post prior to joining The Globe in Feb. 2005. Originally from North Bay, Ont., Bill reports on a wide range of topics on Parliament Hill. He is very protective of the office’s brand new copy of O’Brien & Bosc, the latest Parliamentary rule book.

 

Gloria Galloway

Gloria Galloway has been a journalist for almost 30 years. She worked at the Windsor Star, the Hamilton Spectator, the National Post, the Canadian Press and a number of small newspapers before being hired by The Globe and Mail as deputy national editor in 2001. Gloria returned to reporting two years later and joined the Ottawa bureau in 2004. She has covered every federal election since 1997 and has done several stints in Afghanistan.

 

Daniel Leblanc

Daniel Leblanc studied political science at the University of Ottawa and journalism at Carleton University. He became a full-time reporter in 1998, first at the Ottawa Citizen and then in the Ottawa bureau of The Globe and Mail. While he likes the occasional brown envelope, he is also open to anonymous emails.

 

Stephen Wicary

Stephen Wicary has been with The Globe since 2001, working on the news desk as a copy editor, page designer, production editor and front page editor. During the U.S invasion of Iraq, he pulled a three-month stint as overnight editor of the website. He moved to the parliamentary bureau at the end of 2008 to bolster online political coverage.