Mr. Speaker, I thank the House for the opportunity to debate this very important issue. A very important motion has been brought forward by the Bloc Quebecois today. It basically boils down to whether the House of Commons should not only be consulted but also have an opportunity to vote on any deployment of troops, especially ground troops, in the Kosovo region.
I will take the House back to 1995 when I brought forward Bill C-295. That bill would have provided an approval process for any deployment of troops overseas in a combat role. I was on the foreign affairs committee at the time. What triggered this bill was an all-party defence committee report which was tabled in the House in the fall of 1994. Part of that report stated that defence policy cannot be made in private and the results simply announced. Canadians will not accept that, nor should they. Nor should the government commit our forces to service abroad without a full parliamentary debate and accounting for that decision. It is our expectation that, except in extraordinary circumstances, such a debate would always take place prior to any such deployment.
That was the unanimous decision of an all-party defence committee report of 1994, which followed the major defence and foreign policy review. I see some members here who took part in that report. One of the conclusions they came to was that not only should parliament be consulted, but that consultation should take place, except in extraordinary circumstances, prior to any deployment of troops overseas.
The all-party committee which recommended that would be saddened, as I am today, to see that six fighter bombers went over to Kosovo, then twelve and now eighteen. We do not have any idea of what other commitments the government will be making because we take note in our debates but we never vote and we never know before the government acts. This is in complete contradiction to an all-party decision, which I think is even more powerful than the government, which says that is not the right way to do it, and the government does not enjoy broad Canadian support when it acts unilaterally.
I brought up other things that are very germane to the debate we are having today. If this bill had been adopted we would not be having this debate because it would not be necessary. The member for Red Deer brought forward two similar motions since Bill C-295. They were all along the same line and all of them were defeated by the government.
The benefit of having a vote in the House of Commons is that through this political process Canadians would decide Canada's role. Our reason for sending ground troops must meet the satisfaction of the Canadian people. Many people in this debate and in the previous take note debates have talked about the necessity of military intervention. On this side of the House we are not denying that it is a necessary role and that Canadian troops need to be and are a part of it. However, the political process, the approval of the House before those troops are actually deployed, is the very least that the opposition demands on behalf of Canadians. We all should be involved in sending troops overseas when they are put in harm's way.
Second, I believe that asking for that vote, not just the debate but the vote, would allow the government to gauge support for the mission before Canada actually commits troops. I think it would be unanimous. I have not heard a single member stand to say that we should not be over there doing what we can to stop the ethnic cleansing. I think it would be a unanimous vote.
This an opportunity for the government to gauge the level of support. Parliament should be the instrument. We should not be reading the National Post or the Globe and Mail and waiting for Léger & Léger to do a poll. That is not the way to do it. If the government is as sure as it says it is, and in this case I think it is reading the tea leaves pretty well, it should put it to parliament, let all of us vote, and go forward with the confidence of knowing that the House and not just the government supports the move.
Third, a vote would strengthen the ministers' hand. When the Minister of Foreign Affairs goes to Brussels and enters into negotiations with our NATO allies, and when the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and National Defence deal with cabinet, it strengthens their hand to know they are going forward with the confidence of the House behind them.
This an opportunity for them to say to cabinet “We have to move and this is why we have to move. You saw the vote. You saw the House. The House brought its decision down and we had better listen”. It is not just us, it is the Canadian people who are represented. This is an opportunity to strengthen the ministers' hand by having a vote in this place.
As a corollary to that, I have some fears with the government having made this decision. What would happen if sometime down the road one of the parties opposite started to criticize the decision? What if, heaven forbid, someone was killed? It could happen. It is a war zone. If someone was killed, a member on this side of the House could get cold feet and say, “I sort of supported it in my speech, but I sure never would have voted for it”, which is probably malarkey. However, by asking members to stand and vote, to actually stand in their places and tell us what they think, there will be no turning back. They would be saying “I supported the decision. We sent our men and women overseas and I am behind them all the way”.
This brings me to my fourth point. A vote sends a message to the troops like nothing else can. We bring forward motions. It was tried last Friday to bring a motion forward regarding Wayne Gretzky. There was a member today who talked about Wayne Gretzky. We bring forward motions of support about things which, frankly, are not terribly life threatening. I am a great hockey fan, but it does not stir me like the very deep, troubled emotions I have over what is going on in Kosovo.
We could send a message to our troops by standing and voting in support of a measure that the government could bring forward. Then we would be sending a message to our troops that not only did we stand here literally, but we are standing with them symbolically as they do Canada's work abroad, putting themselves in harm's way, to who knows what kind of detriment in the months to come.
The last time I spoke to this topic I told the story of a person from my riding, Mark Isfeld, who was killed in a land mine accident in Bosnia. It was a very sad moment in my community. There was a huge funeral and a terrible outpouring of grief that followed in our community, which is not that large.
Heaven forbid that would happen, but before it could happen I would hope that members of the House would be able to stand and say “We are with you, members of our armed forces. We are standing here, and by standing here we are standing with you. We appreciate what you are doing for peace, what you are doing to prevent more slaughter and more ethnic cleansing. We are with you as you stand to represent the values that Canadians hold dear about truth and peace and trying to do the right thing in a very difficult situation”. However, we cannot do that in the same way unless we vote.
I am happy to support the motion. It is a half measure, given that we are already involved in the Balkan conflict, but I think all Canadians would like to see their members of parliament stand and be counted. I for one would stand and say “Ready, aye ready” along with our men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces.