They call it Bill C-6.
Sounds innocent enough, though the matter at hand is anything but innocent.
The bill, now before the House, deals with nasty little weapons called cluster bombs.
They are explosives that release small and quite vicious little "bomblets."
Those bomblets sound almost cute, until you realize they take peoples’ arms, legs and heads off.
Victims of cluster bombs -- or cluster munitions -- include a great many civilians, including thousands of children.
In fact, it seems that it is civilians who bear the brunt of this nasty weapon’s terrifying power.
In 2008, more than 100 countries signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, broadly prohibiting their use and sale.
Sadly, those 100 plus countries did not include a number of major world players, notably, China, Russia, the United States, India, Israel, Pakistan and Brazil.
Canada is notionally a signatory, and notionally is the key word here. The ratification process has been slowly working its way through Parliament for more than two years, since before the last election.
The Conservatives inserted a poison pill
The government decided to start the ratification process in the Senate, oddly, where the Cluster Munitions Bill was called S-10.
That bill raised considerable concern because the Conservatives had slipped a kind of poison pill into it.
Canada would, indeed, formally ratify the treaty -- but with conditions.
In S-10, Canada specifically gave itself the right to participate in military actions with non-signatories to the Convention, such as the United States, which is, in fact, allowed by the Convention.
What goes contrary to the Convention is the Conservatives’ added proviso that Canada would even participate in those non-signatory countries’ use of cluster munitions -- the very weapons that are supposed to be banned!
That provision did not make any sense to most who understand the issue.
It would render Canada’s ratification virtually meaningless.
Opposition Senators, including former General Roméo Dallaire, tried to amend S-10 to no avail.
The Senate used to call itself a chamber of independent and "sober" second thought. In the upper house’s current incarnation, however, Harper’s well-trained Senators have, with few exceptions, abandoned any claim they might have to independence, if not sobriety.
As one might expect, the Conservative Senate majority ignored all facts and evidence and obediently rubber-stamped S-10, without amendment.
A senior official resigned and a former Aussie PM decried
Now, the Cluster Munitions Convention ratification bill is before the House, where it has become Bill C-6.
It continues to attract vigorous criticism.
The Government’s chief negotiator, federal public servant, Earl Turcotte, resigned in disgust over the Conservatives’ sabotaging his work.
And folks all over the world are -- sadly, once again -- more than a little annoyed at Canada’s hypocrisy.
Even small-c conservative former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, is sharply critical of Canada, and he made that clear when he testified on Tuesday before the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
Bill C-6 has passed second reading in the House and the Foreign Affairs Committee is now considering the bill, before sending it back for third and final reading.
Such a Committee’s role, normally, would be to hear witnesses, examine all the issues and, when necessary, recommend amendments.
Fraser and many others suggest the Committee try to have Bill C-6 amended so that it does not contradict itself -- supports banning cluster bombs on the one hand, while, on the other, allows Canada to continue to use them.
One might think such an amendment would be a no-brainer.
It would only serve the purpose of making Bill C-6 coherent with the Conservatives government’s own stated objectives, which, it says, are to save lives and prevent devastating injuries to innocent children and other civilians.
However, in today’s tightly controlled majority Parliament, it may be too much to hope for a committee to do its job responsibly and diligently.
There is virtually no chance the Conservative majority on the Foreign Affairs Committee will support any amendment, unless it gets direct orders from on high to do so.
Original Article
Source: rabble.ca
Author: Karl Nerenberg
Sounds innocent enough, though the matter at hand is anything but innocent.
The bill, now before the House, deals with nasty little weapons called cluster bombs.
They are explosives that release small and quite vicious little "bomblets."
Those bomblets sound almost cute, until you realize they take peoples’ arms, legs and heads off.
Victims of cluster bombs -- or cluster munitions -- include a great many civilians, including thousands of children.
In fact, it seems that it is civilians who bear the brunt of this nasty weapon’s terrifying power.
In 2008, more than 100 countries signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, broadly prohibiting their use and sale.
Sadly, those 100 plus countries did not include a number of major world players, notably, China, Russia, the United States, India, Israel, Pakistan and Brazil.
Canada is notionally a signatory, and notionally is the key word here. The ratification process has been slowly working its way through Parliament for more than two years, since before the last election.
The Conservatives inserted a poison pill
The government decided to start the ratification process in the Senate, oddly, where the Cluster Munitions Bill was called S-10.
That bill raised considerable concern because the Conservatives had slipped a kind of poison pill into it.
Canada would, indeed, formally ratify the treaty -- but with conditions.
In S-10, Canada specifically gave itself the right to participate in military actions with non-signatories to the Convention, such as the United States, which is, in fact, allowed by the Convention.
What goes contrary to the Convention is the Conservatives’ added proviso that Canada would even participate in those non-signatory countries’ use of cluster munitions -- the very weapons that are supposed to be banned!
That provision did not make any sense to most who understand the issue.
It would render Canada’s ratification virtually meaningless.
Opposition Senators, including former General Roméo Dallaire, tried to amend S-10 to no avail.
The Senate used to call itself a chamber of independent and "sober" second thought. In the upper house’s current incarnation, however, Harper’s well-trained Senators have, with few exceptions, abandoned any claim they might have to independence, if not sobriety.
As one might expect, the Conservative Senate majority ignored all facts and evidence and obediently rubber-stamped S-10, without amendment.
A senior official resigned and a former Aussie PM decried
Now, the Cluster Munitions Convention ratification bill is before the House, where it has become Bill C-6.
It continues to attract vigorous criticism.
The Government’s chief negotiator, federal public servant, Earl Turcotte, resigned in disgust over the Conservatives’ sabotaging his work.
And folks all over the world are -- sadly, once again -- more than a little annoyed at Canada’s hypocrisy.
Even small-c conservative former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, is sharply critical of Canada, and he made that clear when he testified on Tuesday before the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
Bill C-6 has passed second reading in the House and the Foreign Affairs Committee is now considering the bill, before sending it back for third and final reading.
Such a Committee’s role, normally, would be to hear witnesses, examine all the issues and, when necessary, recommend amendments.
Fraser and many others suggest the Committee try to have Bill C-6 amended so that it does not contradict itself -- supports banning cluster bombs on the one hand, while, on the other, allows Canada to continue to use them.
One might think such an amendment would be a no-brainer.
It would only serve the purpose of making Bill C-6 coherent with the Conservatives government’s own stated objectives, which, it says, are to save lives and prevent devastating injuries to innocent children and other civilians.
However, in today’s tightly controlled majority Parliament, it may be too much to hope for a committee to do its job responsibly and diligently.
There is virtually no chance the Conservative majority on the Foreign Affairs Committee will support any amendment, unless it gets direct orders from on high to do so.
Original Article
Source: rabble.ca
Author: Karl Nerenberg
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