Mr. Chair, I welcome the comments from the Conservative foreign affairs critic on the issue of Sudan. He has not provided any solutions to the terrible conflicts affecting its people, but I want to reiterate for him what Canada is doing in trying to resolve this issue.
We have taken three major courses of action. First, we have used our diplomatic tools. Our diplomats have tried to resolve this issue at every venue possible. We have engaged the United Nations. We have engaged the African Union. We are trying to support the African Union, which morphed out of the Organization of African Unity, its extremely ineffective predecessor. At the end of the day, Africa and other countries must get together to solve the problems in their own backyards. That is what they want to do. Canadians and this government are very supportive of that.
We have supplied diplomatic tools for the Sudan. We have put pressure on every venue to try to end this problem, including the government in Khartoum. We have provided considerable aid and development moneys to the Sudan, not only to the country at large but also in the south. The government has also provided military assistance in terms of troops, equipment and training.
If the member is somehow suggesting that Canada should march into Sudan, the second largest country on the African continent, and put our troops in that particular environment, I have to tell him that we would be making an absolutely disastrous mistake. Our troops would suffer terrible casualties. We would be walking into a military catastrophe. We would be making things not better but worse all around.
We are committed to trying to resolve this issue through every way possible. The group that has been tasked to try to resolve this is the African Union. The member should understand that this organization wants to take this issue on. It is trying to take it on. Canada and our military are supporting the African Union and has offered any support it requires. We will continue to work with it.
Does the member not acknowledge the fact that Canada is doing all of these things? Is he suggesting that Canada send a contingent of peacemaking troops into the Sudan? If so, how many people would he suggest we send?