Goldring speaks 2 ½ hours in opposition to an opposition motion that affronts the constitution

December 11, 2009

Ottawa - Edmonton East Member of Parliament Peter Goldring has denounced an Opposition motion introduced in the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development as “dangerous, precedent setting and insulting to the Constitution.”

The NDP motion calls on the government to “recognize its constitutional duty to protect Canadian citizens abroad” and orders “the Minister of Foreign Affairs to give protection to a Canadian in distress.”

“I have to believe that the NDP Member of Parliament did not intend to mislead the Parliament of Canada, but, there is no such constitutional duty, implied or in print in Canada’s Constitution,” Mr. Goldring says. “The Government of Canada does not have jurisdiction outside Canada in other sovereign countries.

Mr. Goldring has had the floor and spoken directly and consecutively on the opposition motion in Committee for two-and-a-half hours so far, explaining that he wants to fully examine the motion’s Constitutional accuracy. “I am concerned about motions and bills carelessly introduced with an opposition majority that may unwittingly effect Constitutional change by precedent. I am concerned this motion could do that.”

Mr. Goldring says he will continue his dissertation on the Constitutional laws of Canada as long as necessary. In the past decade the longest similar speech was by former Red Deer Member of Parliament Bob Mills who spoke for 11 hours and 45 minutes on the Kyoto accord.