If I may, Mr. Chair, I would like to answer that question, since it is to some extent the subject of the study I tabled in January and February.
Part of the study dealt in fact with the way that governments, journalists and even experts inform the public. I noted an inability or reticence from politicians, both Liberals and Conservatives, to use the words that need to be used during a conflict. For example, some public relations firms or pollsters suggested that government members should use soft words to describe Afghanistan, and to refer to it as a peacekeeping mission, that we were going to help women and children and rebuild the country. All the arguments used were extremely positive and soft. However, I believe that Doug made it clear in his presentation that, in reality, a war should be called a war. When we are in Afghanistan, we are helping women and children, we are protecting them and we are allowing them to go to school, but we are bombing and killing Taliban and al-Qaeda members. Afghanistan is not the Western Sahara. It is not a small peacekeeping operation off the beaten track.
The words we use are important, and when they are not appropriate, Mr. Chair, this leads to confusion in the public opinion and a rejection of the mission. The mission in Afghanistan is very unpopular in Quebec for all kinds of reasons. Furthermore, it is also not popular elsewhere in Canada because Canadians are confused about what we are doing. When the Canadian Forces, National Defence, conducted a poll of approximately 1,500 Canadians two years ago, they were asked what we were doing in Afghanistan. The majority of Canadians said that we were conducting a peacekeeping operation with peacekeepers. However, that is not true. Why do Canadians have that perception? It's because politicians, journalists and experts are not doing their jobs of informing the public, and this is not a uniquely Canadian phenomenon. I have demonstrated this phenomenon in France, the United States and in Germany, where everyone always speaks in vague terms without ever using the appropriate words for what is happening.