Canada’s Foreign Affairs minister recognizes the vast moral divide between Israel and Iran, between liberty and tyranny, and has the courage to articulate it. I have to beleive that to the great majority of Canadians, Baird’s moral courage is a source of national pride.

There are some ministers who are willing to work across party lines like Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. He works well with his critics.

The other thing I will point out again is John Baird is an excellent Foreign Affairs Minister particularly in his work on fighting against gay bashing around the world like in Uganda. That’s strong from Conservatives.

May I say that I regard John Baird as an exemplary Foreign Minister – a quick study, a command of the files, prepared to take action and advancing thereby issues of common cause in the pursuit of justice and human rights

I think the government has handled the military intervention in Libya as well as could be expected. In fact, I think they’ve done very well. I think they’ve recognized, as we do in the Liberal party, that if you want to carry some weight and credibility on the world stage, you have to do some of the heavy lifting once in a while and I think this was very well handled.

John Baird who took on a tough portfolio with the possible exception of his affinity of portraits of the queen around the world, carried it off with quite I would say very skilled diplomacy. He is popular with the diplomats here. But the other thing that John Baird does that there is not enough of across the house and you saw it today he can diffuse a situation in the house by using humour

I can tell you in the personal dealings I have had with John Baird as a minister, i personally like his style. Because you know exactly where you stand.