Mr. Speaker, first I would like to pay tribute to the soldiers who acted with calm and courage. They know they are involved in an extremely important mission which is to help the poor civilians who are trapped in this terrible situation by providing them with food, medication and so on.
I was at a discussion in Budapest. The situation is very bad. The President of Bosnia was pleading with me to try to keep our troops there because they are considered the best. Canada has no political interest in the area. I said to him that our interest was not political, that our interest was in peace and to help the civilian population.
We have a mandate until the month of February. In January cabinet will review that. I would like to point out that we had debates in this House of Commons. Members of the House were consulted and the great majority were in agreement that we should be there to help the civilian population. We will review the situation in January. Of course not only Canada has troops there. There are others and we have to consult them too.
I have to say again that we are all very proud of the way the Canadian soldiers behaved. I was delighted to hear the President of Bosnia tell me that the Canadians are the best there.