moved:
That the Committee take note of the planned meeting between the Prime Minister and the President of the United States,
Madam Chairman, earlier today some members of the House approached me with a very constructive suggestion, namely to have a debate in the House prior to the Prime Minister of Canada going to the United States on Monday to meet the American head of state and discuss the serious issue before us today.
Following this request—I take this opportunity to congratulate the House leaders of the opposition—I contacted a number of my colleagues and all the House leaders. Everyone agreed that it was a good idea and quite the thing to do.
What I would like tonight—it is my wish of course but it does not mean that it is the wish of everyone else here—is to be able to say that everyone of us will take part in this debate so that tomorrow our Prime Minister will be able to take with him Hansard , the Debates of the House of Commons when he goes to Washington on Monday and, fortified by our support and the reasonable and constructive position we will put forward this evening, say “Mr. President, not only do I believe such and such a thing, but parliamentarians in the House of Commons gave me such and such information and I have their support”.
I believe that this should be the approach guiding us tonight through the debate on the motion before us. It can be. Will it be so? Of course.The onus is on us to meet the challenge.
The motion before us this evening, its form, its context and the kind of debate we are holding were the subject matter of a unanimous motion moved in the House earlier today. This means that, at least at the beginning, there was a consensus on how to proceed to inform the Prime Minister of Canada of the House of Commons' wishes.
We had, a little earlier today—and we had it on two occasions because later we had to move an amendment to the original motion—twice at least this unanimous intent in the House, namely that we wanted to pass on to our Prime Minister the representations made to us by our constituents across Canada.
I hope this approach will guide us, our comments will be reasonable and we will then be able to forge ahead.
I take the opportunity to congratulate members who in recent days have seen fit, many times and in various ways, to raise issues that are important to Canadians. They have done so in ways that were generally reasonable and appropriate given the gravity of the situation. They were perhaps not always reasonable but I will not get into that.
I thank colleagues and citizens from across the country who joined us on Parliament Hill on September 14. Some 75,000 or 100,000 people strong, I am not sure how many, came to show Canada's deep affection for the citizens of the United States, our sympathy for the families of the people who died, and our resolve and strength as a nation to combat and rid the world of the terrible scourge of terrorism wherever it exists.
That was the statement made last Friday by all of us who were here. It was the statement made on Monday when we had an excellent debate in the House of Commons. At the end of the debate a motion of support expressing the sentiments of the duly elected representatives of the Canadian people was transmitted by the Speaker of the House to the United States Congress.
I congratulate House leaders of all parties for agreeing to the forum on Monday in addition to what we are doing this evening. It was equally constructive. I reiterate my appreciation to everyone involved.
Canadians and Americans share a long friendship based on the values of democracy and freedom. We share the northern end of the continent. We are allies in NATO, in North America and in our geography. Our alliances have been tested time and again, in times of war and through the long cold war confrontation. They have been tested continuously because we have lived near an undefended border all this time. Both sides have done particularly well in living up to the challenges two nations face when they live side by side.
Immediately after the tragic events of September 11 our Prime Minister left his official residence and came to Parliament Hill as a statement that we as Canadians would not be bullied, overcome or put in a position where we were not fully in control of this great country. He did so within minutes and I congratulate him for it. He immediately made a public appearance to pledge that Canada would stand by the United States.
On Monday he will visit President Bush in the White House to discuss how we can work together to forge a coalition, conduct a campaign against terrorism and protect the citizens of our two countries and indeed the entire world.
When the Prime Minister sits with President Bush it will be as the head of a sovereign ally. Canadians are in charge of Canada. Yes, we are allies of the United States and shall continue to be, but both countries stand side by side.
Canada and the United States have an extensive and close defence relationship. Our forces are capable of working with American military units across a broad spectrum of roles. They have done so before.
My colleague, Canada's foreign affairs minister, has stated that Canadian soldiers have fought before in the defence of liberty and that we have to stand for the principles that our country was founded on.
Yes, we will do our part, but the government is also clear that it will be Canada as a sovereign country and we as Canadians will decide our role. We will do that collectively. In fact, all of us speaking tonight in the House is a form of that. We are telling the Prime Minister and giving him the feelings of our fellow citizens so that he can express them as the leader of a sovereign nation to his counterpart in the United States.
I will conclude by saying something about who our foes are and who our foes are not. Our foe is not somebody else's religion. Our foe is not Islam. Our foe is not another religion. It is not another colour. It is not another language. That is wrong. It is wrong to think, if anyone does, and unfortunately a small group of people do here and there, that other religions, other faiths, other colours or other races could be the enemies of peace. They are not. That is not true. I believe that if all of us can give a strong statement, as many people did on Monday, to the effect that people of all races, colours and languages are united with all of us to make this country and world a better and more peaceful place then we will have accomplished something additional in this evening's debate.