Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank our two witnesses for their excellent presentations. This is a very positive start to our discussions. I won't deny that we have discussed this issue at some length. Are we talking about peace making, or peace building? To my mind, peace building means building the peace, whereas peacekeeping refers to traditional peacekeeping missions.
Your presentations touched on many areas. Mr. Wilfert mentioned several of them: national interests and the importance of breaks, because our soldiers may be a little tired. I also appreciated that Mr. Wilfert expressed some regret over the demise of the Collège militaire royal du Canada. I think that history will show that this was a mistake. I see that the Liberal Party is somewhat inclined now to correct this grave injustice. So then, I view your comment in a very positive light. It is a very apropos topic for the committee chair.
Your submission mentions one thing that you haven't talked about yet, namely the importance of Parliament exercising some control. This is somewhat of a hot topic these days. Speaking of transformation, I'm wondering perhaps if it's high time to do a major cleanup, as we get ready to pull out of Afghanistan. I'm talking about a major cleanup. I don't think the Conservative Party took appropriate action when it came to power. Wouldn't you say it's time to rethink our foreign policy? We need a policy that would allow Canada to clearly state what it wants to do in the world and outline the national interests that it wants to defend. Once this foreign policy has been formulated, we can move on to formulating a defence policy, an important foreign policy component. What does the future hold for Canada's military? I think it's time we asked ourselves these questions. It's also time for an equipment acquisition plan. The Bloc Québécois has consistently supported this logical approach. The first step is to define our foreign policy, then move on to our defence policy, and finally, establish an equipment acquisition plan to meet our objectives.
Do you think the time has come to follow this course of action? You've touched on many areas, but if we could possibly accomplish these three steps in this order, I think we could achieve our objectives. I'd like to hear you views on this matter.