Madam Speaker, I regret that I was not able to hear the introductory comments of the member who has just spoken because I was tied up in an interview. I did arrive in time to hear her speak passionately on Canada's important role as peacekeeper and I commend her for that.
I agree with her that we cannot keep adding more responsibilities and taking on more missions by our peacekeepers and then not give them the support that they require to do their job and to ensure their safety and protection.
In the broader context, and I do not want to erode for a moment the importance of that issue because I share that concern, does the hon. member share the concern that has been articulated by many informed critics of what is happening in the world today?
In particular I want to pay tribute to a former member of the Progressive Conservative Party, a member in the House for many years, Douglas Roche, who is now an independent senator. He expressed his concern that for the entire array and battery and range of comprehensive programs, services, responsibilities, and mandates of the United Nations, that it has a $10 billion budget to work with annually whereas at the very same time the world continues to spend more than $800 billion a year in armaments.
Would the hon. member comment on what she sees as the responsibility and internationalist role for Canada in addressing what is surely a major concern that we all, as parliamentarians, ought to be focussing on?