Mr. Chairman, my thanks for allowing me this opportunity to make a few remarks tonight.
This is a very personal issue for me because many of my friends and relatives are American, and to see those attacks on that day was especially horrific for me. I remember my grandmother, who was in California, often talking about the impact of Pearl Harbor on her generation. In my view, this is something that goes beyond that.
On behalf of the people in Edmonton Southwest, I offer my deepest sympathies and prayers for all those who were touched by the attacks. In fact, we were all touched by them.
To get to the specifics of this debate about what advice our Prime Minister should offer, it has been said that we should stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends and allies, and we have to do this. However, we have to do this with more than just words. We have to do it through our deeds. My worry is that, in this whole situation, relations between our two countries may have been harmed by the debate that has taken place here.
Comments made by some parliamentarians as to the lack of support that we seem to be giving to our American friends have shocked me. I would except the Minister of Foreign Affairs when I say that. There were also some comments about our need to address the root causes or that we had to think rationally.
Consider what the president has done. He has thought rationally. He has been deliberate. He has not reacted in a knee-jerk way. He has been deliberately collecting intelligence on the groups that have perpetrated these deeds.
There was talk about addressing the root causes and somehow if we were pacifists in the face of this type of aggression and if we redistributed the wealth, this would solve matters. That is an issue that we all want to see happen, but will this multi-millionaire terrorist who is supposedly behind these acts be pacified by redistribution of wealth? Pacifism in the face of this type of terror will only further matters.
There was talk about scapegoating. The president and the Prime Minister both talked about this. The president stood in a mosque in the United States and talked about American values and about upholding them. I applaud him for that.
I could go on about the specifics of introducing anti-terrorist legislation, about protecting our frontiers and borders and about giving our army police and security forces the resources that they need so that they can both protect Canada and help our allies in their time of need.
Beyond anything, we have to recognize that this struggle is a moral struggle. It is a battle of good and evil. There is a path of terror and a path of hope. There is a path of cowardice and a path of courage. There is a path that leads toward enslavement and a path that leads toward freedom.
In my view, if we do not recognize this struggle as a moral struggle, those people will have died in vain. This struggle will not simply be one with international agreements or with ratifying this treaty or that treaty by words. It requires a determined and a thoughtful world to truly win this struggle.