Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to what my colleague from the Canadian Alliance had to say. I would like him to clarify his position regarding article 5 of the NATO Treaty.
At the beginning of his speech, he mentioned that indeed all the countries that are members of NATO—there are 17 or 18 according to who you talk to and it seems that many others want to join in, but let's say there are 18 member countries—have an ambassador to represent them in NATO and so does Canada. When discussions are held, all the ambassadors raise their hands to make their country's position known.
I agree with the member that article 5 says that an attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all its members. However, I would like to remind him that Lord Robertson, the NATO secretary general, clearly specified that this was conditional to the fact that the attack came from the exterior. My point is that it is obvious that an attack like the one in Oklahoma City would not necessarily warrant an action by NATO because the attack came from within.
I would like the member to clarify his position. Once NATO has specified the need to establish that the attack was indeed directed from outside the country, which I think the Americans are about to do, what happens next? Do all countries send in their troops without consulting their parliament? I would like the member to give some clarification on that.
Within NATO, there is a notion called interoperability. It means that nations are capable of performing specific activities in a conflict. As for Canada, we do not yet know what the Americans and NATO expect from us.
However, one thing is certain. If we confirm our participation and if NATO decides to proceed because the attack was indeed directed from outside the country, each nation is bound by article 5 and must say what it is willing to do. That is what the Bloc's motion is all about. Before the Canadian government can say that it wants to do this or that, there must be a vote in the House of Commons. This is not only to the benefit of opposition members, but also to the benefit of Liberal backbenchers, who are accountable to their constituents just like we are. It is on that issue that I would like the member to clarify his position. Does he want us to have a debate and a vote in the House regardless of the type of military assistance that will be requested?