Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada has joined its NATO allies in war with Yugoslavia and Canadian CF-18s and their crews are now about to engage Yugoslav military targets. The governments of the United Kingdom and the United States have been fully briefed and have debated issues prior to the attack.
In the press we have heard statements from the minister of “soft power”, who now sounds a lot more like the minister of war, talking about military action in Kosovo, but no debate, nothing from the Minister of National Defence, nothing from the chief of defence staff, nothing even on D-NET. Even when the Prime Minister decides to go skiing instead of attending state funerals, we see the chief of defence staff.
Now that Canada has gone to war, we still hear nothing from the military responsible. There have been no briefings to parliament and no debates. After our party pressed the government, the Minister of Foreign Affairs agreed to make a ministerial statement.
Will the real minister of defence please stand?