Mr. Speaker, the hon. member reiterated a number of questions, one of which was why “the rush”. I remind the member that the government of which she was a part made the initial placement of Canadian troops, development workers and diplomats four years ago. This is not a rush for us to consider a prolongation of the mission which I think was being considered by the previous government.
What is different in this instance is that this government, further to an electoral commitment, is consulting the House of Commons. This did not happen previously. I find it peculiar that members who are now being consulted are objecting to the process of consultation, objecting to a vote.
This is a sincere question. Would the member prefer that we revert to the status quo ante where the executive, the cabinet, took military decisions exclusively without a vote in the House? Would that be preferable to the member?
When she asked why now, it is very clear that just last week the president of Afghanistan made some very pointed questions about Canada's ongoing commitment. He needs to plan, if we are not going to be there, to find other donor countries, other actors to take our place. Our government will be participating in a NATO meeting next week, a force commitment meeting, where we will have to pony up, where we will have to give an indication of whether we are in or out. This government wanted in good faith to consult the House of Commons before doing so.
Would the hon. member care to comment on whether we should just go to that force commitment meeting of NATO and say that we are sorry, but we want to spend several months in a parliamentary debate toward having a vote, which we have never had before?