Baird pledges $10M to combat cluster bombs, defends loophole in bill

OTTAWA – Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says he will earmark $10 million over the next 18 months to help end the misery caused by deadly cluster bombs.

The minister made the commitment during testimony before the House of Commons foreign affairs committee.

The committee is examining a heavily criticized bill that would ratify Canada’s participation in the international treaty to ban deadly cluster bombs, an inaccurate weapon that kills and maims innocent civilians decades after their use.

Despite the commitment, Baird defended the bill’s so-called interoperability clause because he said Canadian Forces personnel need to participate in joint operations with the United States, which has opted out of the treaty.

The clause has opened Canada to widespread criticism, including the normally neutral International Committee of the Red Cross, that the clause essentially waters down the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Liberal foreign affairs critic Marc Garneau said the government’s stance is morally ambiguous.