Mr. Speaker, if an agreement is reached in Rambouillet before troops are sent to that country, the peacemaking process should be a lot easier. It will be a matter of staying in Kosovo, monitoring the situation and ensuring that the conflict does not erupt again in a month or two.
On the other hand, if we must impose peace, it could take longer. As we know, “you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink”.
Getting the Serbs and the Kosovars to stop shooting at and shelling each other, getting them to stay on their respective side and to start negotiating again will not be achieved in just a month.
Such a mission could take three years. This may be a reasonable minimum. If, unfortunately, peace is not restored after three years, we would then have to contemplate alternatives. It could be that Canada would find another country prepared to take over the operation. It is not just Canada's responsibility. There are many other countries in the world. NATO and the UN have many members and they are all concerned about maintaining peace in the world.
Canada plays a role because it made commitments to NATO. It plays a role because it is a member of the United Nations. The mission may involve 500 to 800 troops. It is reasonable that we be there, given Canada's credibility, given its international reputation as a peacemaking and a peacekeeping country.
We must not back off because of a matter of months. This is an operation which we must support to help make it a success. Let us learn from our past experiences in other countries to make this operation a success.