The Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews gave us a good example in Parliament last week.
New Democrat MP Jack Harris wanted to know why Toews told our spy agency that it’s okay to use information obtained under torture, as long as the torture was done by another country.
In December 2010 Toews wrote a secret directive to officials of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the CSIS.
He gave the permission to use information obtained under torture, provided to them by another country.
In other words, they would be doing our dirty jobs, and we could stay as white as snow.
Harris said that Toews proclaims to be against torture, "but does nothing to prevent other countries from using torture" to provide information for Canada.
In 2009, Stockwell Day, who had Toews’ job back then, said that "if there’s any indication that torture may have been used, that information is discounted.”
Toews says that all that has changed today and that in certain “exceptional circumstance” using information obtained under torture is now acceptable.
And just to show how much of a ‘class guy’ he is, Toews tossed a completely unfounded insult at Harris.
Toews said that if ever Harris “knew there was a plane with some of his constituents -- men, women, and children – and he obtained information which came from a questionable source, he would do nothing. "
Now was that called for? Why the cheap shot?
That's the sort of class for which Toews is known.
