Tories say they'd support release of Afghan documents

The Canadian Press
Monday, 18-April-2011

 

OTTAWA - The Liberals suggest the ball is now in Stephen Harper's court to release documents related to what his government may have known about possible torture of prisoners in Afghan jails.

The Conservatives, however, suggest they don't have the ball.

The judges overseeing the handling of the documents have said it wouldn't be appropriate to release a report on their findings because Parliament has been dissolved, which means they won't be made public before the May 2 election.

The Conservative party has issued a statement saying it is aware of the judges' letter -- and has added that it "fully supports and, in fact, encourages" the release of the documents.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said he believes party leaders could still "work something out" to have the documents released this week.

"It's not a question of us wanting to make the Afghan documents an election issue. That's not the issue to me," he said after visiting a recovering cancer patient at her Ottawa home.

"The issue is, Canadians ought to know this stuff. This is how democracy works. There's no reason to conceal these documents."

The judges were working with an ad-hoc committee of MPs to whom they were supposed to report on Friday, but those members are now busy campaigning for re-election.

"There is no longer a committee ... to which the panel can provide its report and the results of its work, and no documents can be tabled in the house," said a copy of a letter obtained by The Canadian Press.

The judges have essentially put the "ball back in the court" of the parties, Ignatieff said. The Conservatives, Liberals and Bloc Quebecois could simply amend the original memorandum of understanding that they all signed.

Ignatieff called on the prime minister to "do the right thing" and help the other parties to have the documents released.

"We've been scrupulously careful to respect the legitimate national security concerns of our armed forces and all this," Ignatieff said.

"That's why we went through the process. So I don't think this does anybody harm. I think it does the country good."

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe, meanwhile, repeated his demand that the documents be released Friday.

"I'm asking that it has to be public -- period," he said in Quebec City.

Duceppe said he's tired of waiting for the documents and said his party is pulling out of the committee.

The latest dust-up over documents harks back to the controversy involving auditor General Sheila Fraser's report on spending at the G8 summit, which also can't be released because of Parliamentary limbo.

That report should be made public too, Ignatieff said.

"There ought to be a way to solve this thing, because we've got an election on the second of May," he said. "Canadians should be able to look at all these issues."

The government's refusal to disclose the thousands of pages of Foreign Affairs and Defense Department reports prompted an extraordinary crisis in December 2009 where the opposition threatened to hold the government in contempt.

It was only resolved when the Speaker of the House of Commons told the parties to find common ground, which resulted in a committee being formed to review the documents and decide what could be released to the public.

In July 2010, a group of MPs began sifting through more than 40,000 documents related to the handling of Afghan prisoners.

The MPs were looking for documents relevant to the allegations of abuse. It was up to the judges to determine what contents, if anything, might threaten national security, international relations or the lives of Canadian soldiers.

 

    

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