Mr. Chair, before starting, I would like to clarify one point.
The last time I had the pleasure of participating in this kind of discussion, the current Minister of National Defence was sitting on my left and was in the official opposition. I had to let my friends who were watching the debate know that it was a committee of the whole. At the last committee of the whole, I was surrounded by Conservatives. I reassured my friends at the time that I had not become a Conservative. This was a committee of the whole where people can sit where they like and I had ended up by chance in the middle of the Conservatives. This evening, in order to be totally fair, I wanted to reassure my friends that I have not become a Liberal; I am a Bloc member of Parliament and this is a committee of the whole. So I can sit where I want.
Now that I have clarified this, I have a question for the minister.
The Bloc Québécois is not happy with the mission in Afghanistan. I will explain why. When we were last here some time ago, we asked questions of the Liberal defence minister at the time. Everybody wanted to talk about reconstruction and the urgent need for the Canadian Forces to intervene because schools and hospitals had to be built and protected and roads had to be reconstructed.
Since the start of the mission, though, there has been a change in its mandate. Canada is no longer there to build hospitals or schools; it is there to hunt the Taliban. Many people criticize the Canadian mission for just hunting the Taliban.
The minister himself agreed in committee that the main objective was to drive out the people who had sheltered and supported the authors of the September 11 attacks. If this is the objective of the current mission, the Bloc Québécois feels that it has not been achieved because reconstruction and diplomacy are also important. The 3D approach included not only defence but development and diplomacy as well.
My question is for the minister. How much time and money does he intend to spend before moving on to the two other Ds, development—or construction—and diplomacy? He has said himself on several occasions that it was not by military operations alone that Canada would accomplish its mission in Afghanistan.