Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague. With regard to the debate on Afghanistan being held by this House, it must be understood that no one is questioning the presence of Canada, of our troops, our soldiers in Afghanistan. That is a given.
My colleague who just spoke is absolutely right: the NDP is a problem. I can assure you that we do not agree with the NDP's insistence on withdrawal. In my opinion, this is a very important point: we cannot withdraw from Afghanistan tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m., saying we are leaving. That is impossible. We have laid out the Bloc Québécois position. It is clear. The Bloc wants to withdraw in 2009. Having said that, the House will make a decision and we will have to live with this decision and respect it.
I have a question and I will be repeating myself. Our colleague who spoke earlier, the Chief Government Whip, told us that we were perhaps not well informed. I am not talking about reading history. I invite my Quebec colleagues and other colleagues in this House to read A History of Modern Afghanistan by Michael Barry. I did not write this book. Therefore, it is not partisan.
This book raises an issue that leads me to ask my colleague opposite a question. The troops may remain in Afghanistan in 2009, 2010, 2011 and perhaps beyond. Can he assure us that the work—and I really like what our Conservative colleagues are saying—