Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my colleagues in the Reform Party I would like to extend our deepest condolences to the families of Armenian Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian, Speaker Karen Demirchian, and the five other politicians who were assassinated yesterday in their parliament.
To the families there is nothing we can say or do to bring back their loved ones, but our prayers and deepest sympathies are with them.
To the people who committed these cowardly acts, each one of us here and all Canadians deplore with every bone in their bodies what they have done.
To the people whose concerns these murderers were supposed to be representing, we can only urge them to pursue their needs through peaceful means for murder will not produce peace, killing will not build reconciliation and violence will not secure a common future.
The Caucasus is an area of great concern. It is an area of great instability. Members of the Reform Party would hope that the people there who have deep concerns today would pursue them with peace in their hearts, peace in their actions, and avoid the bullet and violence.