Mr. Speaker, on another issue, in 2008 the House voted to end Canada's presence in Kandahar. The Minister of National Defence told the House that combat operations had ended and that Canadians were not involved in combat. However, yesterday the minister's own spokesperson admitted that Canadian troops were “permitted to be in Kandahar province and to serve in combat roles”.
Time and again the Prime Minister stood and said that Canadian soldiers were no longer going to serve in combat, but they do. Why did he break his word to Canadians and to Parliament?