Mr. Speaker, the government just does not get it. It keeps on passing the buck. The drones are not yet there flying and the night vision goggles still fog up.
When it comes to the men and women who serve in our armed forces, in the eyes of this government they are nothing more than second class citizens. When the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment was deployed to Afghanistan the Minister of National Defence promised that “No no effort and no money will be spared to protect Canadian Forces”.
More important, the Minister of National Defence made a promise to the people of Canada. In an interview with Craig Oliver he promised that he would resign if any Canadians died because they did not have the right equipment.
It is time for that promise to be kept. A man of honour would do the right thing. The right thing is to step aside for a full, independent, public and complete investigation.