Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence should apologize because he did not tell Canadians the truth, which is that we will stay beyond February 2009. After six hours of debate, he was in a hurry to send our troops until 2009, but now he does not have the courage to tell us the truth. Here is more proof: the report tabled in the House yesterday on our progress in Afghanistan is clear. If we pull our troops, would that jeopardize progress made to date? There is clearly only one answer to that: yes.
Why does the Conservative Prime Minister not have the courage to tell us right now that deep down, this government never intended to pull out in 2009?