FAAE Committee Report

Dissenting Opinion by the Conservative Party of Canada

Rights and Democracy: Moving Towards a Stronger Future

The Committee heard from witnesses representing a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including current and former Presidents of Rights & Democracy, Board Members, Management and former employees as well as the wife of the former President, the late Rémy Beauregard.  We thank all of the witnesses who appeared before the Committee.

The government’s unquestioning support for Rights & Democracy has been confirmed by the Hon. Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs:

Rights & Democracy was created by a Conservative government. Given that our government has a sincere and fundamental belief in the work of this organization, it will continue to support Rights & Democracy. [1]

While the Committee was informed of the various challenges facing Rights & Democracy, we were also made aware of the broad consensus between the staff and the board on roughly 98% of all issues at Rights & Democracy[2] that the Board had recently approved management’s five-year plan,[3] and that the new President, Gérard Latulippe, will use that consensus as a base upon which to build the organization’s future.[4]

In his Committee appearance, Mr. Gérard Latulippe laid out the basic elements of a go-forward plan.  The Government members have full confidence in the direction that Mr. Latulippe has taken.

We want to express our confidence in the Board of Directors and thank them for their perseverance during these difficult incidents.  These are essentially volunteer positions and their labour is one of service to their country.

While we worked diligently with opposition members to agree on the body of this report, we cannot support all the recommendations pushed through by the opposition majority on the Committee.