Mr. Speaker, I shall be brief since time is of the essence. I will not take all the time allotted to me and humbly heed your request.
My colleague from Compton—Stanstead already discussed Motion M-380 in this House. He made a brilliant speech. Above all, he generated interest in this matter in the House because, unfortunately, the government does not notify us ahead of time and consult us on a regular basis on the whole issue of a Canadian military presence abroad.
At any rate, to know what is going on with our troops, we are generally better off phoning the U.S. secretary of state, who will provide us with information before our own government tells us about our troops' involvement in various missions.
There was such an instance one year ago, when things were starting to heat up in Iraq, and the Americans and the British were preparing to intervene.
The Prime Minister announced that the House would be asked to take note of the fact that Canada might support action against Iraq. However, before this announcement was made, we learned that the American secretary of state knew that Canada had already given its consent.
This is somewhat frustrating. The government does not seem to want to consult Parliament. More specifically, the Minister of External Affairs does not seem to give a damn about what parliamentarians think on a number of matters, including the deployment of Canadian troops abroad to provide either humanitarian or military assistance, although the motion focuses on the military aspect.
The motion does not specify under which authority the mission would be placed. Would it be under the UN? Under NATO? Under the Americans? This might make for an interesting debate.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs is not listening, as he showed us today on the issue of plutonium imports. The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade heard witnesses on this issue. In the report on plutonium, all parliamentarians—we always wonder about the Reformers—asked that absolutely no plutonium be imported into the country. The minister says “We will see, we are not sure”. He did not read the report. We submitted a report to him and he did not even read it. He does not care about us one bit. When it comes to deciding whether we should send military personnel, it is the Americans who make the decision.
We can understand the frustration behind the motion moved by the member for Red Deer. Unfortunately, that motion is flawed. It is incorrect. It is difficult to defend because it is incomplete. It creates a process which may not be necessary, but that motion is the product of frustration.
What is meant by “a significant contingent”? As the hon. member for Compton—Stanstead pointed out, if we send one soldier to Cyprus, does that mean we must have a debate in the House? We already have aircraft stationed in Italy that are ready for action in Kosovo. Must we have a debate about that? The minister said we would have a debate in this House.
All too often the debate is short and its purpose is primarily to inform the House that Canada has already told the United States, England, France, NATO, the UN, the Pope and everyone else that it would take part in a mission. Everyone has been told except us parliamentarians.
The motion is incomplete, and we will have a lot of trouble supporting it. At the same time, we must also recognize the government's executive power to make decisions. It is ineffective from a governmental point of view. However, minimum respect for the men and women in this House would dictate that the government inform them of its intentions and allow them to play their role as parliamentarians. It is so important for a government to have the support of parliament when taking action.
Take the humanitarian missions, for example. There was no debate in the House in the case of Hurricane Mitch. There were questions about what Canada was contributing in the way of money, troops, and human and material resources. Not one member of the House rose to say that they were not in favour of sending our troops to help out in the case of Hurricane Mitch. What we are talking about here is military missions that are a much greater risk to Canada's credibility but above all to the lives of our men and women in the armed forces.
The member for Red Deer means well. However, the motion perhaps conveys more frustration than credibility. We are very open to improved consultation of parliament in the case of a decision involving Canadian military personnel outside Canada's boundaries.
We hope that the government will listen for once and, contrary to what it did in the case of the nuclear bomb tests, Iraq, Kosovo, and all sorts of other situations, will want to share information and probably hear a few arguments from all four opposition parties.
I congratulate people for being interested in the military question. It is an important one. However, a message needs to be sent as well. If there is going to be a debate before troops are sent overseas on an official mission, we should perhaps also make sure they are well equipped.
On the subject of the planes, the minister was saying there was no problem with the ejectable seat, that it was the parachute that did not work. That makes no sense.
Last year, they were short of boots in the Canadian armed forces. They want to cut another 5,000 people, men and women, the staff of the Canadian armed forces. What do they want? A scout troop with hard hats? If that is it, let them say so.
In closing, the government should discuss more with parliamentarians and make them allies. There is often talk of American, French and British allies, but the greatest allies of the Canadian armed forces are to be found here. Our military needs support when it goes on foreign missions, let the government consult the opposition.