Mr. Speaker, many will want to speculate about how this war will play out over the next while.
The NATO conditions are: that Slobodan Milosevic stop the killing and expelling of ethnic Albanians; that he withdraw his army and guarantee refugees a safe return to their homes; that he permit an international presence for the security of those people; and that he sign a binding peace settlement as per the interim agreement.
I am sure the member would agree that there is very little likelihood that Milosevic will eventually accept those conditions. He probably will not agree to withdraw his army nor accept the NATO force as the peacekeeping force there. Given that is the case, I think it would be reasonable to speculate that the possibility of ground troops is very high and that NATO forces have to be prepared to act.
The member suggested we should be careful about putting our military in harm's way. He probably knows that they are already in harm's way. They are flying sorties and are subject to anti-aircraft fire now. They also know that Canada is prepared to participate to the extent that it can. It will also not deploy troops who are not well prepared to do their jobs the way they should to do done.
Is the member seriously thinking that somehow the House has to suspend the war in Kosovo and come back to parliament to discuss again whether or not we should deploy ground troops, or would he not agree that is exactly what we have been talking about in this debate that started yesterday at 3 p.m.?