Madam Chairman, I want to come back to a very important question about the role of the House and particularly the role of elected representatives.
Did I understand the member from London to be saying that if the United Nations Security Council authorized military action against Iraq, she would agree that Canada should participate in that without the House and without the elected members of the House being given an opportunity to vote on behalf of their constituents about that fundamentally important decision? Is that what she is saying? If that is what she is saying, how on earth can she justify that?
She may think that is an appropriate position to take, to send men and women into war after reviewing the evidence. That may be her position, but each and every member of the House surely has the right to vote on behalf of their constituents.
I know she has a constituency in which there would be many people opposed to that, particularly from the Arab and Muslim Canadian communities.
Why is there contempt for the role of elected representatives? Why would she not support the right to vote even in the event of a UN Security Council authorized military action?