Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister of National Defence to explain to this House what he means when he says that the generals in the Canadian Armed Forces carry no more weight than a plumber.
To my knowledge, when something is wrong with the plumbing, you call a good plumber. And when a government has problems with its armed forces, it makes just as much sense for it to attach a minimum of importance to the opinions of its generals.
When the defence minister says that his generals carry no more weight than a plumber in the decisions concerning the armed forces, what use then are these generals?
In my opinion, the minister is no longer seeing straight in this affair. His lack of judgment and inappropriate remarks point to one thing: he is no longer able to hold such a position.
The Prime Minister has no choice but to call for the resignation of the defence minister.