Opposition outraged as Harper links Brampton MP's family with terror probe
February 22, 2007
Susan Delacourt
Ottawa Bureau Chief
OTTAWA–Prime Minister Stephen Harper stands accused of sinking to new political lows in his battle with the Liberals, after trying to link Mississauga-Brampton South MP Navdeep Bains to the ongoing criminal investigation into the 1985 Air India bombing.
In a remarkable display in the Commons yesterday, Harper was halted by cries of "shame, shame" when he tried to read from a newspaper story that exposed Bains's father-in-law as someone the RCMP interviewed in connection with the bombing of an Air India jet.
"I am not surprised, given what I am reading in the Vancouver Sun today, when I read this is how the Liberal party makes decisions," Harper said. "The Vancouver Sun has learned that the father-in-law of the member of Parliament for Mississauga-Brampton ..." – and that's as far as Harper got before he was drowned out with a chorus of outrage on the Liberal benches.
It escalated from there and will likely remain as a storm cloud today in Parliament. The incident has reignited Liberals' anger over what they see as the Tories' preference for low-road campaigning against leader Stéphane Dion and former finance minister Ralph Goodale.
The Vancouver Sun article doesn't cite sources, but says Bains's father-in-law, Darshan Singh Saini, "is on the RCMP's potential list of witnesses at investigative hearings designed to advance the Air India probe."
The article goes on to say the future of investigative hearings is up in the air because of a controversy in Parliament over whether to extend special provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Dion has said his party will oppose extension of the provision that allows closed investigative hearings into possible or past terrorist attacks and of another that allows police to arrest a person they suspect is about to engage in terrorist activity.
Liberal Bob Rae has said he has concerns about the party voting against the extensions because Air India investigators have had plans to start the investigative hearings in their work.
The Conservatives say that Liberal opposition to extending clauses of the anti-terror bill makes them soft on terrorism.
It was in that context that Harper tried to launch his salvo yesterday. As tempers in the House rose, though, Harper, his advisers and his ministers started to backpedal, arguing that he wasn't trying to attack Bains.
Dimitri Soudas, Harper's press secretary, said in the Commons foyer: "This has nothing to do with Navdeep Bains," and "this has to do with policy, not to do with any individual."
Harper stopped on the stairs outside the Commons trying to reframe his remarks. "The actions of the Liberal party may well be damaging a police investigation. We think that is a serious matter. The Liberal party has provided no explanation as to why it has reversed ... on its own legislation within the last two weeks and really, the Liberal party has got to respond."
Liberals, however, said the slur was clear and obvious. In the Commons, Bains said: "I had the opportunity to listen to the Prime Minister attack my integrity, the integrity of my family and I would personally ask that the Prime Minister apologize."
Goodale was one of the angriest yesterday. The former finance minister has been asking Harper and the Tories to apologize for linking him to an RCMP investigation into possible leaks over income-trust taxes – an investigation launched in the middle of the last election campaign and closed last week with exoneration of Goodale.
In the Commons yesterday, Goodale said: "The Prime Minister has just confirmed that to him partisan advantage is everything, the truth does not matter, it is the allegation that counts. Never mind what the facts are in the final analysis."
Goodale said this isn't the first time Tories have rushed to declare people as linked to terror.
Conservatives, Goodale recalled, initially reacted to the deportation of Maher Arar to Syria several years ago by condemning the Canadian government for trying to win his release. "The last time the Conservatives accused us of being soft on terror, they were slurring Maher Arar," Goodale said.
Conservative backbenchers replied with heckling of their own: "You guys are pathetic," and "What are you hiding?"
Later, Liberal MP Bill Graham (Toronto Centre) said Harper's personal swipes take away from the "rational" debate needed on the anti-terror legislation.
"Canadians want a prime minister who will respond first and foremost to their sense of justice, equity and fair play and don't want a prime minister who is going to drag the House of Commons into the gutter and produce the type of spectacle we got today," Graham said.
Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe also criticized Harper's actions.
"Well, I think there is ...a serious lack of dignity by Mr. Harper concerning the comment he made about a member's father-in-law. I think that he should apologize ..."
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/184516
February 22, 2007
Susan Delacourt
Ottawa Bureau Chief
OTTAWA–Prime Minister Stephen Harper stands accused of sinking to new political lows in his battle with the Liberals, after trying to link Mississauga-Brampton South MP Navdeep Bains to the ongoing criminal investigation into the 1985 Air India bombing.
In a remarkable display in the Commons yesterday, Harper was halted by cries of "shame, shame" when he tried to read from a newspaper story that exposed Bains's father-in-law as someone the RCMP interviewed in connection with the bombing of an Air India jet.
"I am not surprised, given what I am reading in the Vancouver Sun today, when I read this is how the Liberal party makes decisions," Harper said. "The Vancouver Sun has learned that the father-in-law of the member of Parliament for Mississauga-Brampton ..." – and that's as far as Harper got before he was drowned out with a chorus of outrage on the Liberal benches.
It escalated from there and will likely remain as a storm cloud today in Parliament. The incident has reignited Liberals' anger over what they see as the Tories' preference for low-road campaigning against leader Stéphane Dion and former finance minister Ralph Goodale.
The Vancouver Sun article doesn't cite sources, but says Bains's father-in-law, Darshan Singh Saini, "is on the RCMP's potential list of witnesses at investigative hearings designed to advance the Air India probe."
The article goes on to say the future of investigative hearings is up in the air because of a controversy in Parliament over whether to extend special provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Dion has said his party will oppose extension of the provision that allows closed investigative hearings into possible or past terrorist attacks and of another that allows police to arrest a person they suspect is about to engage in terrorist activity.
Liberal Bob Rae has said he has concerns about the party voting against the extensions because Air India investigators have had plans to start the investigative hearings in their work.
The Conservatives say that Liberal opposition to extending clauses of the anti-terror bill makes them soft on terrorism.
It was in that context that Harper tried to launch his salvo yesterday. As tempers in the House rose, though, Harper, his advisers and his ministers started to backpedal, arguing that he wasn't trying to attack Bains.
Dimitri Soudas, Harper's press secretary, said in the Commons foyer: "This has nothing to do with Navdeep Bains," and "this has to do with policy, not to do with any individual."
Harper stopped on the stairs outside the Commons trying to reframe his remarks. "The actions of the Liberal party may well be damaging a police investigation. We think that is a serious matter. The Liberal party has provided no explanation as to why it has reversed ... on its own legislation within the last two weeks and really, the Liberal party has got to respond."
Liberals, however, said the slur was clear and obvious. In the Commons, Bains said: "I had the opportunity to listen to the Prime Minister attack my integrity, the integrity of my family and I would personally ask that the Prime Minister apologize."
Goodale was one of the angriest yesterday. The former finance minister has been asking Harper and the Tories to apologize for linking him to an RCMP investigation into possible leaks over income-trust taxes – an investigation launched in the middle of the last election campaign and closed last week with exoneration of Goodale.
In the Commons yesterday, Goodale said: "The Prime Minister has just confirmed that to him partisan advantage is everything, the truth does not matter, it is the allegation that counts. Never mind what the facts are in the final analysis."
Goodale said this isn't the first time Tories have rushed to declare people as linked to terror.
Conservatives, Goodale recalled, initially reacted to the deportation of Maher Arar to Syria several years ago by condemning the Canadian government for trying to win his release. "The last time the Conservatives accused us of being soft on terror, they were slurring Maher Arar," Goodale said.
Conservative backbenchers replied with heckling of their own: "You guys are pathetic," and "What are you hiding?"
Later, Liberal MP Bill Graham (Toronto Centre) said Harper's personal swipes take away from the "rational" debate needed on the anti-terror legislation.
"Canadians want a prime minister who will respond first and foremost to their sense of justice, equity and fair play and don't want a prime minister who is going to drag the House of Commons into the gutter and produce the type of spectacle we got today," Graham said.
Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe also criticized Harper's actions.
"Well, I think there is ...a serious lack of dignity by Mr. Harper concerning the comment he made about a member's father-in-law. I think that he should apologize ..."
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/184516
