Mr. Chair, I will therefore keep my remarks and questions short.
I find myself in complete agreement with everything that the Minister of Foreign Affairs has stated in his remarks tonight. The only question I have for the minister is, what took so long?
In his summation he said that the mandate he and the Minister of National Defence have is to discuss this issue. I would suggest that they have had eight years to discuss this issue, he and his predecessors and the Minister of National Defence and his predecessors. Surely to goodness in eight years we could follow the lead of a lot of countries, which I could name if I had more time, and actually support our allies in this effort.
I would say the time for discussing is over. Yes, we need to have this debate in the House of Commons because it is the first of its type. I welcome this debate. As he said, and I agree, let us stick to the facts. Let us not resort to fearmongering as the NDP has been doing on this issue for quite some time, especially its absentee leader, Jack Layton.
Having said that, I think it is incumbent upon the government to get on with things, take a stand on this issue, communicate that to Canadians and let the Canadian voters know what that stand is and what they are voting on before the next election.