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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 79

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 1, 2022 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 79 - Jun/1/22
Ms. Christine Normandin (Saint-Jean, BQ)
  • Jun/1/22 9:42:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is always so fascinating to listen to. While we were in Lithuania, I heard something that has stuck with me. Lithuania's parliament building, the Seimas, is not particularly attractive. Some Lithuanians even called it ugly. However, they are particularly proud of it for what it represents, since people have put their lives, hearts and souls into that building. Indeed, as my colleague said, after gaining its independence for the first time, Lithuania was occupied for several years, first by the Russians, then by the Germans to whom the Russians had given it, before returning to Russian rule until its independence in 1991. Several times during our visit, the Lithuanians reminded us that they had warned us of what was going to happen. In my colleague's view, why did we not listen?
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Context: House Hansard - 79 - Jun/1/22
Hon. John McKay (Scarborough—Guildwood, Lib.)
  • Jun/1/22 9:55:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to share an experience with the hon. member about NATO. I was travelling with John Manley, the then foreign affairs minister. Our itinerary was London, Paris, Riga and Berlin. When we were in Riga, the President of Latvia came into the room and she harangued John and me for 20 minutes about getting into NATO. This was in September 2001. She did not want anything else. She just wanted into NATO, because she saw NATO as her best security guarantee against the Russians. We went to Germany and, to John's credit, he put the Latvian question to the Germans. They had the same question: “What about the Russians?” Is the hon. member prepared to assert her judgment about the utility of NATO against the President of Latvia's judgment about the utility of NATO?
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