Apparently NDP Human Rights Critic Wayne Marston is tabling legislation called the “Prevention of Torture Act.” What's is about? Well, according to his release, it's about making government complicity in torture impossible (another way to do this is just refuse to release any pertinent documents on flimsy national security grounds, but that's a little more messy.)
The bill, among other things, makes it a criminal offence to use information known to be derived from torture; and prohibits Canadian officials from handing over prisoners to be tortured at home or abroad; and establishes diplomatic protocols for the immediate repatriation of any Canadian citizen at risk of torture abroad.
“If this bill were the law of the land, then Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki and the others would never have been subjected to their horrific ordeals—and neither would there be a need for the current investigation into the alleged abuse and torture of Afghan detainees,” said Marston.
Sounds great. But it seems that's not really what this proposed NDP legislation is about. At least not according to former Jack Layton press secretary, and current NDP national director, Brad Lavigne. According to Lavigne, it's all about putting the "squeeze" on Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff:
An interesting, and telling, choice of hash tags from Lavigne. Here I thought this was proposed legislation from Marston aimed to prevent another Arar affair from happening. Thanks to Brad for making their true intent clear.
P.S. Brad, there's really NO NEED TO YELL in each of your tweets. We can read them just fine, hash tags and all.
An interesting, and telling, choice of hash tags from Lavigne. Here I thought this was proposed legislation from Marston aimed to prevent another Arar affair from happening. Thanks to Brad for making their true intent clear.P.S. Brad, there's really NO NEED TO YELL in each of your tweets. We can read them just fine, hash tags and all.
AND by the by, Brad, just how would this be an "iggysqueeze"? The Liberals are long on the record demanding an inquiry that covers our full term in office, and demanding the full release of documents. If this is about attempting to deliberately distort, take out of context and lie to Canadians about Ignatieff's past writings on torture, well, I'd say I'd expect better, but I don't.
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