Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Ministers.
Today is the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day invasion in 1944, an historic day that was the start of liberating a people who had been held captive by an evil regime for a long time. As part of a great alliance then, Canada set an example for other nations on how to conduct an effective and ethical military operation while helping local populations get back on their feet. When I spent last Christmas outside the wire with the troops in Afghanistan and we travelled in convoy through the villages, I saw the same thing: Canadian troops conducting an effective and ethical military operation to the demonstrated approval of the local population. The images of children giving us thumbs-up as we passed and people getting along with what for them was a normal life are still clear.
Minister Verner, can you comment on the example that Canada is setting for other countries today, 63 years after D-Day, on how to get a tough but necessary job done while respecting the people we're there to help, combatant and non-combatant alike?