Thank you, Mr. Chair. I too am going to a committee meeting in another building. I will therefore dive right in.
Thank you for coming and I apologize in advance for ending on a less positive note. In light of what I have observed, I am quite concerned. I see that we are still—and I am saying “we” because it is the responsibility of all of government—behind and always reacting to problems that occur.
With regard to various comments made by Lieutenant-General Leslie, starting in 2006, when Canada assumed command in southern Afghanistan and replaced the United States, we perhaps changed the mission. I want to state that, initially, the Bloc Québécois supported the mission in Afghanistan when it was a humanitarian and reconstruction mission.
It was when the mission changed and instead became an armed and military mission, that there were problems. I would like to ask you the following question.
Do you agree with me that, starting mainly in 2006, without saying that the Canadian armed forces were poorly equipped, they were not adequately equipped to undertake the Afghan mission that the government deliberately changed?