Mr. Speaker, this forum in the House of Commons in the Parliament of Canada is an excellent place to share ideas. Today I guess we could call it a debate. I like to think of it more as a dialogue, a conversation among colleagues, as to what the best course is in reference to the issue of Afghanistan.
While I participate in the dialogue, I am very mindful of the great sacrifices made by men and women of the Canadian Forces. Rest assured, as every member of the House of Commons rises to his or her feet, our hearts go out to the families and to the communities that have been affected by this war.
We in the Liberal Party fundamentally believe that a successful future for Afghanistan is in our national interest. We believe our efforts, as the Leader of the Opposition said earlier on, have reflected the values and principles in which Canadians believe.
What are those values? Those values and principles are freedom, democracy, equality, security and the respect of fundamental human rights. Our party believes these values are worth pursuing. We believe our efforts in Afghanistan, supported by a clear United Nations mandate, can be successful.
Before I go on, Mr. Speaker, I want to remind you that I will be splitting my time with the member for Pickering—Scarborough East.
What has this debate, this journey that we have all participated in taught us about arriving at some compromises among members of Parliament representing different political parties and stripes, but whose focus is very much a Canadian focus? It is that our country, which is blessed with a democratic institution, with the rule of law and with values that we all understand and appreciate, can export those values to a country that is in need. This is essentially the issue in Afghanistan.
However, what have we learned perhaps by an earlier mistake made by the government, where time was limited on the issue of debate and it did not take enough time to consult opposition parties or allow for this forum to take place?
The valuable lesson is that if we are reasonable in our approach, if we are reasonable in our expectations, if we have a bit of trust in each other and if we can focus on a common objective and pool all our resources together, we can make headway, we can achieve those well specified objectives that we all share.
I do not mean to say this in very partisan way, and forgive me if it may sound partisan, but we on this side of the House welcomed the start of the parliamentary debate on the government's new motion on Afghanistan. We are pleased the government chose to use the proposed Liberal motion introduced two weeks ago as the basis of its new motion. However, this comes with a sense of openness and realization that perhaps at all times we do not have all the answers to the issues, that perhaps it is important to listen to other voices, to be open to suggestion and understand that debate and dialogue is precisely that.
We do not all think alike, but if we can take the best of what each one of us has to offer in the debate, then collectively, as a House of Commons and as a country, we can in fact move forward. I will give a few examples of what has been achieved. I sit on this side of the House and will bring my perspective to the debate.
The new motion adopts the principles that the mission must change, that it must end and that it must go well beyond an exclusively military focus. These are principles that Liberals advocated over a year ago, principles that make sense. Perhaps the government had to think a bit about it, but it has now arrived at the same conclusion. That is part of the process of how one arrives at mutually acceptable results.
With the motion as well, the government acknowledges that the mission must change and has used the Liberal description of the mission after February 2009, which will change its focus to a mission of training, security and reconstruction. Given what is going on in Afghanistan, it is understandable that this shift occurs. It is common sense and a shift that speaks to the mission of training, security and reconstruction, which is precisely where we should be as a country.
The government also has accepted the fact that the mission must end. This motion, as presented, sets a firm end date to Canada's mission in Kandahar of July 2011. The Conservative government has also accepted that our presence in Afghanistan must be about more than military.
Key commitments on development and diplomacy, which were absent from the government's original motion, have been imported directly from the Liberal motion. I am not saying this to be boastful. It is to demonstrate to members of the House as well as Canadians that in fact a cooperative spirit exists within the chamber that can move our country forward to achieve the results that we all agree are fundamental in Afghanistan.
I also note that the government has kept virtually all the Liberal motion as it pertains to the need for greater transparency and accountability to Parliament. Unfortunately, the earlier motion was silent on this issue. What I think happened was that through some mistakes, and mistakes happen in politics, the government realized that it had to open up to the Canadian people, that it had to give updates as to what was going on in Afghanistan because people wanted to know.
Canadians want to know why we are there. Canadians want to know when we will come back. Canadians want to know whether we are successful. Canadians also understand we are losing lives in Afghanistan and they want to know we are losing lives for a just cause.