Mr. Speaker, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and I want to see an end to the humanitarian tragedy taking place in Yugoslavia in Kosovo.
I also want to make it clear that we support our soldiers, sailors and air crew who have now been placed in harm's way and also those of our allies.
Canada and the NATO alliance made up of sovereign states have just gone to war with a sovereign state, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, over a civil war with the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo.
We have done this without a declaration of war and without the support of the United Nations. The minister quotes security council resolutions 1199 and 1203, but they do not specifically give NATO the right to use military force against Yugoslavia. He might want to brush up on his international law and his long lost text of realpolitik. We as a country and an alliance may have broken the codes of international law.
In Bosnia in 1995 NATO was directed by the United Nations to keep the peace and to intervene in a bloody civil war, but NATO is now engaged in an offensive military operation outside its own territory. We are quickly subscribing to the view of NATO as a global policeman. Let there be no mistake. We have just launched an air attack with our allies on a sovereign state.
The Canadian government has said by its actions that the United Nations and the soft power are not up to the task of ensuring global peace and security. We have just heard the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Soft Power, state that the use of force is the ultimate guarantee of peace and security. I hope this act of violence will not tarnish his Nobel peace prize, the one he wants so bad.
Let us leave the minister of war or foreign affairs for the moment and the fact that we may be violating international law. A minister of the crown just stood in the House and made a statement as the attack is going on. After the first weapons have impacted on our opponent's territory, the saddest thing for Canadians and the parliamentary process is that this country has slipped into war without briefing its people through parliament and through meaningful debate.
It is very sad indeed to see what little regard the government has for the principles of parliamentary democracy and the House. It obviously did not support the Somalia inquiry recommendations for a vigilant parliament and that is very upsetting to Canadians.
In conclusion, parliamentarians deserve honest and open answers from this government of self-proclaimed transparency and accountability, from its ministers, and we must hear from the chief of defence staff and his commanders immediately. Let us have a chance to ask the real questions that need to be asked on behalf of Canadians.
I also want to thank the Minister of National Defence for at least keeping the defence critics up to date on the military action that was taking place.