OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Bill Graham on Monday told the House of Commons that the Conservative government’s foreign policy "is dangerously driven by preconceptions, deceptions, self-delusions and arrogance".
He said Prime Minister Stephen Harper’ brief meeting with China’s president had hardly been "a historic event" since it was mentioned only at the end of a Chinese news agency’s report about President Hu Jintao ’s get together with another leader at the meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation in Vietnam.
Graham said the end result of his efforts at the APEC meeting had been "a big fat zero"
Harper returned to Ottawa from Vietman early Monday and was absent from question period.
Jason Kenney, who is the prime minister’s parliamentary assistant, came to his defence, saying he was proud of Harper’s actions, which protected Canadian values.
MPs also said the Conservative government is hurting the country’s reputation on the environment by withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol and drawing criticisms from the international community for rejecting its commitments. But Kenney said Environment Minister Rona Ambrose had been honest with the world about the country’s ability to meet its Kyoto commitments while the previous Liberal government "had lied to the world" about it.
Meanwhile, Liberal leadership front-runner Michael Ignatieff said Monday that Harper’s approach of preaching human rights to China is not productive and not in Canada’s long-term interest.
"It’s always very pleasurable to stand up and give speeches defending Canadian principles. But the test of the speeches is whether they deliver the results," Ignatieff said Monday in an interview at his Toronto campaign headquarters. "The test of whether Mr. Harper’s approach in this 15 minute meeting will be whether this guy is released or not."
Ignatieff was referring to the case of Huseyin Celil, 37, a Canadian citizen who was sent from Uzbekistan to a Chinese jail without the federal government’s knowledge.
The Chinese have claimed Celil is a murderer and a terrorist.
Speaking in Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said Canada has made progress in the case.
" … we have already received a guarantee that they would not pursue the death penalty," MacKay told reporters. So already we have made incremental progress in protecting this individual and we are going to continue to take steps to try to gain consular access for him."
Ottawa Citizen/with a file from Mike Blanchfield
The Leader of the opposition, Bill Graham, criticized Stephen Harper's performance at the four day APEC summit in the House of Commons yesterday. He says that the PM called his meeting with the Chinese President "a historic event."

Graham says that it was hardly "a historic event" and his performance was "a big fat zero."

Harper returned to Ottawa from the four day trip to Vietnam yesterday and was away from question period when the comment was made.

"It's always very pleasurable to stand up and give speeches defending Canadian principles. But the test of the speeches is whether they deliver the results," said Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff. "The test of whether Mr. Harper's approach in this 15 minute meeting will be whether this guy is released or not," said Michael Ignatieff, referring to the case of Huseyincan Celil.

Harper raised the case of Huseyincan Celil, a  Chinese-Canadian stuck in a China prison for allegedly having links to Muslim separatist extremist groups.

Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, defended Harper and said he was proud of Harper's actions and they protected Canadian values.