Mr. Chair, I would like to say that I will be sharing my time with the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine and the member for Scarborough Centre.
I would first like to thank the minister for being here this evening. Personally, like all the members from my party and, in my opinion, all the members in this House, I have immense respect for our soldiers. Our hearts are with these women and men, as well as their families, when they are called to take up arms.
We would like the minister to assure us that these people are not going to battle unless they have received the military training we take such great pride in. We recognize that our soldiers receive the best training in the world and that we do not send them into battle or into dangerous places without full training.
I would also ask the minister to assure us that all the soldiers who have gone to Afghanistan received the same training.