Harper to face tough questions as Parliament resumes

Last Updated: Sunday, January 27, 2008 | 11:23 PM ET

CBC News

The Harper government will likely face tough questions on numerous issues, including its handling of Afghan prisoners, Canada's future role in Afghanistan and the upcoming federal budget, as Parliament resumes Monday.

Opposition members have been demanding answers to the government's changing policy on Afghan detainees after learning only last week that the military decided to stop handing over detainees to Afghan authorities on Nov. 5 following a credible report of torture.

Opposition House Leader Ralph Goodale talks about issues relating to Afghanistan on Sunday, a day before Parliament resumes on Monday.
(CBC)

Furthermore, the prime minister's communications director, Sandra Buckler, retracted her statement Friday that the military never told the government of the change. Now the government says prisoner transfers will resume once it's confident there is no torture.

House Leader Peter Van Loan provided few clarifications Sunday in a CBC News interview.

The latest snafu has left Opposition MPs very critical of the government.

"The government's position on detainees has been a state of mass confusion for months … and what we have seen in the last few days is simply a continuation of the chaos," Opposition House Leader Ralph Goodale told CBC News on Sunday. "They haven't had their act together on how this issue should be handled in substance or, quite frankly, communicated to the public."

"I think it's completely indicative of their complete lack of disclosure and honesty to the people of Canada about the mission in Afghanistan," said NDP MP Libby Davies.

The Harper government is also expected to respond to last week's report prepared by an independent panel headed by former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley on Canada's future role in Afghanistan once its mandate ends in February 2009.

Last Tuesday, the panel suggested Canada's Kandahar mission should continue indefinitely on two conditions: that Canadian soldiers get 1,000 more foreign troops to help them, and better equipment to protect them.

The panel also asked Ottawa to stop sugarcoating the difficult realities of the Afghan mission and start communicating the problems more honestly to Canadians.

Committee to study nuclear safety

While the debate on Afghanistan will likely dominate the floor of the House of Commons, MPs will also be busy with committee work.

The natural resources committee, which is looking into nuclear safety issues, is expected to hear testimony from Linda Keen, the former head of Canada's nuclear watchdog.

She will talk publicly for the first time on Tuesday, and may provide insight about her recent government firing and the decisions she made about the nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ont.

The former Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission president ordered the 50-year-old reactor to close its doors last November after the operator, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., failed to install safety upgrades.

The closure of the plant, which produces two-thirds of the world's medical radioisotopes, led to shortages of the material used in imaging and diagnostic tests. But Parliament unanimously passed emergency legislation in December to overturn her decision.

The ethics committee, which is holding hearings on the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, is expected to hear from more witnesses, including another appearance by Karlheinz Schreiber later in the week.

The committee has heard from Schreiber four times and once from former prime minister Brian Mulroney.

During his testimony in December, Mulroney said he received cash payments — $225,000 in three instalments — from Schreiber after he left office in 1993. Mulroney said the money was remuneration for his work as an international lobbyist for a German armoured vehicle company, Thyssen.

Schreiber, however, claimed the payments amounted to $300,000 and that terms were made while Mulroney was still prime minister.