Madam Speaker, I want to tell you this is a very serious subject as Christmas approaches and our peacekeepers are in a foreign land doing peace operations. I certainly respect the viewpoint of the hon. member.
I have to tell you, Madam Speaker and I am sure the hon. member would not mind sharing this with me that he along with the hon. member for Perth-Wellington-Waterloo spent some time in ex-Yugoslavia.
We have some feeling for what we are all talking about. It may differ on all sides of the House. I will not get political about this. The hon. member talked about the peacekeepers and the arms embargo. I have a son who is in the arms embargo business. He is a combat systems engineer at HMCS Toronto . As the hon. member knows, he and I worked at Halifax on the Preserver . He wants to come home for Christmas. He understands why he is there.
I will say to the hon. member we met other people. I will not mention my constituents because that could be misconstrued. I will mention classmates of my son: Andrew Napper, Rob Stoney, Colin Blais, and Stephen Brown who met us at the aircraft that took us from Zagreb to Sarajevo. It was an interesting flight. We were not sure if we were going to make it. They understand why they are there.
I want to set the record straight. The hon. member on September 21 talked about the committee that we both served on, and I may say to his constituents he served honourably and well. I want to remind the hon. member of what he said. I am sure my hon. colleague will remember this. He said: "What makes this defence committee report so important? The committee spent months hearing testimony by Canadians from all walks of life. Hundreds of testimonies have been heard in the presentation".
This is what the hon. member signed his name to. As a committee we have stated clearly our conviction that Canada's interest and responsibilities extend beyond our borders. These are true matters in defence and security as in the economics sphere.
I do not want to throw this at the member. I know that he comes from a serious motivation. He did quote what France did. I am now quoting what he said as a member of a Canadian organization which was the first time in 60 years that Canadians have had their politicians go and ask the question of Canadians: "What do you want to do in defence?"
He would have to agree with me that they said: "You should continue to do what you are doing". We may have to change at some time but at this particular point in time our Prime Minister has said: "We believe that we should stay".
I am sure the hon. member, as most of our colleagues, would respect that.