Mr. Chair, I appreciate very much the comments from the member opposite. I think many of the questions that she indicated were being asked in Quebec are questions that are being asked from coast to coast to coast. Many people have concerns.
As I said earlier, one of my concerns and the concern of my party is the whole issue of the counter-insurgency nature of Operation Enduring Freedom. How does one build peace and diplomacy on the one hand when one is in a war fighting, or in counter-insurgency mode? We know that many of the people in the peace movement in Canada and ordinary Canadians share these concerns, as do many women and men in the Canadian Forces as well.
We are here tonight to try to get clarity on the mission, on what it is we are hoping to achieve in Afghanistan and by what means. We know the Americans have been fighting a counter-insurgency in Kandahar province for four years and during that time and most recent the insurgency has only grown and become worse. This is of great concern to all of us in the House of Commons.