Mr. Speaker, I am tempted to get into the questions and comments part of the earlier debate but I will stick to the speech I very carefully wrote out. I hope the parliamentarians in this room will have some intelligent questions to ask at the end of it.
Yesterday Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed the British parliament for one and one-half hours and during that time took questions from British MPs on Britain's role in Yugoslavia. Today the Prime Minister of Canada had a press conference to inform Canadians and Canadian parliamentarians that we would be sending peacekeepers to the Balkans. Canadians should reflect for a few moments on that comparison, a one and one-half hour information session versus a press meeting.
This government has deliberately left parliament out of the briefing process and has not been forthwith and open to parliamentarians. At least today the Prime Minister has made some attempt to correct that imbalance. I commend this Liberal change of tact because it puts the government in a position where it is more responsible for its actions.
There are many questions that must be raised over this government's handling of this critical issue. It is time the Prime Minister clearly defined Canada's objective in this campaign and more important the role we have occupied in NATO, and the Prime Minister's involvement and interaction with our NATO allies. The question begs to be asked as to what has happened to Canada's former leadership in these areas. I would submit that Canada is not only not being listened to by its NATO allies but worse yet, is following blindly.
Canada's objectives are not clear. Our strategy is not clear. And now by the looks of things, this Prime Minister is sending our soldiers into battle with no clear concise objective and no strategy to accomplish this vague goal. Surely the Prime Minister is finally going to be held responsible for such ill conceived and blatantly anti-military decisions such as “I will take the contract and write zero helicopters across it”. As a representative of Canadian soldiers and airmen, I hang my head in shame that we would irresponsibly consider sending Canadian pilots to war in planes and helicopters that are older than the pilots who fly them.
Recently the minister of defence stated that he was close to procurement. I would like to state for the record that vague phrases such as “we are close to procurement” will be meaningless to pilots forced to fly unsafe helicopters. I dare say it will also be meaningless to troops who will depend upon these helicopters.
The objectives of this war are unclear, the strategy is flawed and Canada's role of having any significant say in decisions that will eventually cause the death of Canadian soldiers is in question.
NATO entered this war with the president of the United States declaring that the U.S. would not send in ground troops. Where was Canada's respected position? How well was Canada listened to? Did we complain about the outright stupidity of such tactics? Canadians know that Canada's voice has not been heard. Canadians also know that Canada's opinion is not requested. Our soldiers are at war against a veteran military power while our government is at best anti-military and at worst irresponsible in terms of our soldiers' lives.
For me this debate is not about what Canada should be doing. This debate is about whether Canadian lives will be sacrificed because their government is sending them to a war without proper training and worse yet, without proper equipment.
As a parliamentarian, I accept the responsibility of parliamentarians and governments making difficult decisions. I can even accept the government being led blindly by the nose. What I cannot accept, and what no parliamentarian should accept, is giving our soldiers a job to do, albeit a job they are trained to do, but a job they do not have the tools to complete.
Tens of thousands of Canadian soldiers have died in foreign wars to assure Canadians that decisions that are made which affect our troops will be made by Canadian generals and by Canadians themselves. I hope these soldiers did not die in vain.