Mr. Speaker, I thought I had explained it earlier, but I will be glad to explain it again. In preparing for an agreement with Belgrade, it was anticipated that troops would be involved. We hope an agreement can be reached at the earliest opportunity.
We were asked to send troops so as to be ready. The troops that are currently in Macedonia help greatly with the refugees. This is one of the reasons we were asked to be there. We have helicopters that may eventually fly over Kosovo, but right now they can be used to help refugees. The troops will not go to Kosovo until there is an agreement. If they must go, I said I would come back to the House of Commons with this.
As for the other issues, it goes without saying that votes are held every day. But I explained that, with an issue such as this one, the parliamentary system is based on the confidence that the House of Commons has in the government. In a situation like this one, we assume, since we form the government, that we have the authority to act until we lose that confidence.
I also said that we now have a mechanism that did not exist in the past. Nothing prevents opposition parties from asking questions during an opposition day. It is not the government's responsibility to do that. We will examine any motion to that effect and vote on it. However, we assume that we have the confidence of the parties in the House. The Bloc Quebecois had an opportunity a few days ago. It could have asked a very clear question, but instead it asked an ambiguous question.
The day after the debate in the House, the Reform Party asked a strange question on a motion that had nothing to do with the crisis in Kosovo, but referred to a committee holding consultations in western Canada. The opposition is not interested in using the opportunities that it has.
At some point, the issue of confidence will be dealt with specifically in a motion. On June 9, a vote will be held in the House of Commons on supply for the Department of National Defence. The House can vote against this. That is one way of going about it. The opposition cannot have it both ways. If it does not want us to do this, it should reject the defence budget, then we will not be able to go. This would then become a vote of confidence.