Mr. Speaker, when the matter of suicides in the armed forces was raised some months ago, I looked into the matter and discussed it with the chief of defence staff. We have found that the rate of suicides is lower in the armed forces than it is for the population as a whole.
There has been some concern recently about a number of suicides, specifically with troops coming back from Bosnia and Croatia. I have asked for more information on it to see whether or not there is a disturbing trend.
Any suicide, any death is tragic. The hon. member talks about morale and leadership in the armed forces. As a former distinguished general officer in the armed forces, I would hope he would discuss with his colleagues ways in which they can help to assist with morale and leadership in the armed forces, not by the comments in their questions.
The morale and leadership in the armed forces are a hell of a lot better than they are in the Reform Party.