Mr. Speaker, the defence review has acknowledged that Parliament needs to have criteria in place for peacekeeping missions, criteria like when should a mission be undertaken, what are the goals for our peacekeepers and more important, when should Canada withdraw.
The lack of criteria has resulted in the distressing capture of 55 courageous Canadian peacekeepers in the former Yugoslavia. The government dithers on while the UN mission becomes the
laughing-stock of the world and our soldiers are held hostage by armed forces intent on finishing their war and not contributing to peace.
Today I will introduce a private member's bill called the peacekeeping bill. It would require the government to pass a resolution in this House before a peacekeeping mission starts. The resolution would lay out the goals, duration and maximum cost of the mission. Once the resolution expired, troops would be withdrawn or a new resolution passed to continue the mission.
A peacekeeping bill would allow Parliament to ask the hard questions before peacekeeping missions begin and help to secure the lives of our peacekeepers.