Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister.
The issue here is precisely about how we best serve Canadians whose lives are on the line in Afghanistan. They need a minister who tells the facts immediately to the Prime Minister and who tells the truth to this House of Commons.
Will the Minister of National Defence accept that he simply cannot exercise the authority his high office requires and voluntarily step aside, at least until the privileges committee has reported? If he will not do that, in the interests of the troops in whose name he speaks in this House, will the Deputy Prime Minister summon up his courage to recognize--