Mr. Speaker, I know the level of emotion is difficult and raw for all of us here. I also know how important it is to exact some sort of revenge for this. When this kind of terrorist activity goes unchecked it continues unabated and escalates.
As I said in my earlier remarks, it is important to realize what could be sparked by this in terms of retaliation and the repercussions that could be felt worldwide.
The discussion here is centering around whether it is important to avenge what has happened not just to our American friends and cousins but to the Canadians who were lost in the tragedy. We are also discussing whoever else and whatever country may be affected next. That is what we need to look at.
We talk about anti-terrorist legislation and how important it is. The Americans have pretty good legislation and yet we saw how easy it was for terrorists to break through that barrier, make a mockery of the entire FAA security system and board planes.
We need to think very carefully. Many of our constituents are concerned about the issue. In the Edmonton North area that I represent there is a large Arabic and Muslim population, including the Canadian-Arab Friendship Society, and they are every bit as concerned about this issue.
The question the government needs to answer, to which I invite my colleague to respond, is this. We know something must be done. How can we stand here and say, as my colleague just said, that we are multicultural? We know that, but what will we do so that we are not harbouring terrorists or encouraging other countries to do the same?