Mr. Speaker, one of the forums in which Canada can play a very important role is the Commonwealth. Historically on the Zimbabwe issue, the previous government had worked with Nigeria and South Africa in dealing with the Zimbabwe situation.
There is no question that the situation has become far worse over the last year. The average life expectancy of a woman is 32 years and of a man is 37 years. This is clearly an intolerable situation.
We see abuse of human rights unprecedented on the African continent. Yet we again need to use all of our diplomatic offices. The hon. member suggests quiet diplomacy or diplomacy behind the scenes. I also suggest that maybe we should call in the Zimbabwe diplomats in Ottawa and indicate to them that if things do not improve, we would consider expelling them.