Madam Speaker, as the Leader of the Opposition said so well this afternoon, the official opposition would support the use of ground troops if a couple of conditions were met.
The first condition is that NATO would have to very clearly show it was necessary, that it was a reluctant last resort in order to prevent the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of the ethnic Albanians and the Kosovars.
The second condition put forward by the Leader of the Opposition was a very obvious one, the protection of our own armed forces. During the five years I have been a member of parliament there has been a lot of debate in the House of Commons about the terrible state of equipment for our armed forces. The government has consistently said that our armed forces is well equipped to do the job, yet under the management of this government the defence resources have shrunk from a budget of $12 billion to about $9.3 billion. I for one cannot understand how we can expect our armed forces to do the job when we do not give them the tools.
Yes, we are supportive if it is proven necessary that we must put ground troops in Kosovo. The reality is if we are going to do that, we must ensure that our sons and daughters are properly equipped to do the job they are asked to do.