Mr. Speaker, we have all been horrified and outraged by the events and huge loss of life on September 11. No one is questioning Canada's commitment to protect the lives of innocent civilians as a matter of policy, but there is a gap between government rhetoric and government action.
If we are really concerned about protecting the innocent we would be looking at how to save the hundreds of thousands of civilians who are at risk of death by starvation in Afghanistan this winter.
Canada should be following the lead of countries like Norway and Sweden that have made a real commitment to humanitarian effort, headed by the world's newest Nobel laureate, the United Nations.
Our country has offered a token $6 million which is less than a tenth of that offered by our smaller NATO ally Norway. Canada should be looking beyond the language of war to the needs of the innocent for food, medicine and life. We should be proudly following in the footsteps of Nobel laureates such as Mike Pearson and using the United Nations as a tool for peace and humanitarian aid.