Resolve detainee issues, Layton says; NDP leader threatens G8, G20 funding
OTTAWA — NDP leader Jack Layton threatened yesterday to derail funding for the G8 and G20 summits in Ontario if the Afghan-detainee affair is not resolved.
He was speaking before a meeting today to thrash out details of how documents relating to the issue will be released.
Mr. Layton said his party is frustrated by the lack of progress in finalizing how an all-party committee of MPs will get access to documents that are at the centre of a debate over the treatment of prisoners in the Afghan war.
He said the New Democrats may try to force a debate on the detainee issue in the House of Commons as a tactic to hold up the release of more funding for the two meetings of world leaders, which are set for this weekend in Toronto and Huntsville.
“The Conservatives are dragging their feet,” he told Canwest News Service. “We can’t just let them drag their feet right into the summer.”
Mr. Layton said if a meeting between MPs from all the parties set for today doesn’t go well, the NDP will try to bring forward a motion of privilege in the House.
That motion could hold up other business in the House, including passing the estimate bill that contains millions in funding for the G8 and G20 conferences — something the government wants to do before the House rises for the summer, which could be as early as this week.
“We may have to really challenge the government,” Mr. Layton said. “We’ll see how the talks go.”
Sara MacIntyre, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s Office, said yesterday the Conservatives were optimistic about finding a resolution at today’s meeting.
“For now, we still have a meeting set, and we’re going to be going in trying to find a compromise while respecting our legal obligations,” said Ms. MacIntyre.
Should no resolution be reached, however, she said: “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
The battle over Afghan-detainee documents — and accusations Canadians handed prisoners over to Afghan authorities despite knowing the captives might be tortured — has gone on for months.
Facing a deadline imposed by House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken, parties agreed last month that between 20,000 and 40,000 uncensored pages of documents would be secretly examined by a security-cleared, all-party committee of MPs.
The deal was hailed as a milestone for democracy by some, but in the weeks that have followed negotiations to hammer out the agreement’s finer points have become bogged down.
One expert says the government is flexing its muscle against a disorganized opposition.
“They’re trying to, in some ways, force the opposition to cave in on the detainee issue,” University of Ottawa history professor Michael Behiels said.
“They’re thumbing their nose at the Speaker.”
Prof. Behiels is also the university research chair in Canadian federalism and constitutional studies.
He said the detainee issue highlights the ongoing clash between executive supremacy — that of the prime minister and his office — and parliamentary supremacy, that of the elected MPs.
Prof. Behiels said it’s an issue that doesn’t get much traction with the public, despite what he sees as its importance.
“This is one of the biggest constitutional battles that we’ve encountered.”
For Mr. Layton’s tactic to work, he’ll need support from the Liberals. He has Bloc support, but the Liberal party has been quiet as to what it will do. Party officials declined to comment yesterday.
Asked what the fallout of such a move would be for the conferences — which are slated to cost $1-billion in security costs alone — Mr. Layton was unsympathetic to what opposition parties are now calling the “billion-dollar boondoggle.”
“They’ve put themselves in this box,” he said. “It’s the Conservative government’s job to figure a way out of this.”
With files from Mike Barber, Canwest News Service
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The G8/G20 meetings took place in Ontario from June 25-27, 2010. Toronto-based organizations of women, people of colour, indigenous peoples, the poor, the working class, queer and trans people and disabled people organized a peoples convergence with 40,000 people taking to the streets, standing up for justice in collaboration and solidarity!
Activists, community members, inspired and outraged individuals came together as a movement to demand justice for people and the planet. Over a week of mobilizations, events, workshops and direct actions took place in the face of state and police repression, violence and infringements on rights and freedoms.
We must continue to mobilize and build greater solidarity among our communities- an important part of this is supporting all those arrested during the G20 summit, including our allies still in detention, and those released on bail.