Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House today to further contribute to the debate on this important issue and the motion before the House. I am very proud to speak to this motion, a truly Canadian motion.
This motion would extend our mission to 2011, increase the capacity of the ISAF, and better equip our soldiers. It is not a Liberal or a Conservative motion, but a motion to move forward and succeed in a tough and challenging mission.
I want to take this opportunity to congratulate our Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence for doing a wonderful job in ensuring that Canadians are playing an important role in that part of the world.
As a Newfoundlander and Labradorian, I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate General Rick Hillier. We are very proud of the general in Newfoundland and Labrador. We are proud of the leadership he has shown not only in this mission, but indeed with the Canadian armed forces.
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians comprise approximately 1.5% of the population of this great country. We are proud that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, young men and women of our province, contribute to almost 10% of the Canadian armed forces.
I feel it necessary to go back to the basics in my remarks today and remind the House of the fundamental reasons that we are involved in Afghanistan and the benefits of such involvement.
As the Manley report states, “events in Afghanistan, and Canada's participation in the outcomes, will directly affect Canada's security”. This is one of the most important reasons that we are there and we must support this mission so we can finish the job. Let everybody be aware that our soldiers, our men and women, are making a difference. I would like to remind people of the difference we are making.
In 2001, 700,000 children were in school in Afghanistan and they were all boys. The Taliban regime did not allow education for little girls. Today, just a mere six years afterward, more than six million children are enrolled in school in Afghanistan this year, one-third of them little girls. Just that statistic alone shows us that our Canadian mission and our soldiers are making a difference in Afghanistan.
We take a lot of things for granted in this country. As the father of a five year old daughter who just started kindergarten last September, I shudder to think that I could live in a country where somebody would tell me as a father that my daughter was not allowed to go to school to learn about not only her own country, but the world.
I believe that to some extent this House, and perhaps some Canadians, have forgotten the core reason that we are involved in Afghanistan. We forget that the events of September 11, 2001 were the catalyst of our involvement there. Ask any Canadian if they can remember where they were on September 11, 2001. It is one of those days in our history when everybody knows full well where they were at the specific moment they found out about the attacks on America.
We lose sight of the fact that it was from Afghanistan that al-Qaeda leaders planned and directed the terrorist attacks of that day. Canada's role as a member of the United Nations and NATO led to our involvement in Afghanistan. The UN Security Council acknowledged the right of individual and collective self-defence, and we participated in the efforts to bring justice and stability to a formerly unstable and unjust country.
We know that this conflict is justified and beneficial. Why would we then abandon the cause? Why would we jeopardize international, Canadian and Afghan security by withdrawing from the mission before the job was done?
We know that the job is not done. We know that the insurgents that Canadians, alongside Afghans, are so bravely fighting are the same people that received safe haven from the Taliban government of Afghanistan prior to the days of September 11. We know that almost certainly they will receive the same safe haven if the Taliban were allowed to regain power. We know that if we give up now, the Taliban would seek to return and bring back their brutal regime.
Great progress has been made on the ground with the Afghan army and police and there is still more training to be done. We have seen a steady rise in the numbers enrolled in the Afghan national army. Since transferring control to these forces is the ultimate goal, we must make sure they are properly prepared. With a greater focus on training the Afghan army, we will be working ourselves out of a job and that is our goal, to leave Afghanistan to the Afghans.
Our colleagues from the NDP have proposed to remove our troops completely and abandon the people of Afghanistan. However, this is a reality denying proposition. We must wonder about the sincerity and commitment of the NDP to its own principles.
Internationally, almost every social democratic party in the western world supports our mission in Afghanistan, such as the labour parties in the U.K. and Australia, or the social democrats in Germany. Yet, what can only be described as a cheap shot for votes, the NDP has forsaken its own principles for an easy isolationism that appeals to the worst of our natures, the selfish and easy way out.
One wonders whatever happened to solidarity. There is no easy way out of Afghanistan. We are there to protect. We are there to make life better. We must address the reasons why we should remain in Afghanistan until 2011. Again, these are linked to security and to prevention of terrorism because a safe Afghanistan, free from the Taliban, makes the region, makes Canada, and indeed, makes the world a safer place to be.
The efforts of Canada and our allies have some great gains in this mission including furthering democratic elections and institutions. We can all remember seeing millions of Afghans voting just a few short years ago. Just last week a group of Afghan women parliamentarians were here in the House of Commons. What a great day it was. What a testament to the progress that has been made. What a testament to the lives that have paid the ultimate price. What a testament to what Canada is doing in that far away country.
Those women would not be standing in this House without the security and aid of Canada and our allies, and the brave Afghans who have rejected barbarism and terrorism. To keep these gains moving forward we need to increase the number of troops and give them better equipment. The decade of decay in our Canadian military is over.
The Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence have made great efforts with our allies to find 1,000 more troops to partner with Canada in Kandahar. With the passage of this motion, Canada will have a clear mandate at the upcoming NATO conference in Bucharest.
Medium lift helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles recommended by Mr. Manley will greatly aid our troops in doing their job effectively. They will also hopefully lead to preventing more deaths from IEDs. Medium lift helicopters will allow our troops to avoid dangerous stretches of highway. UAVs will allow our troops to search out the Taliban and deal with them before they cause more trouble.
The insurgents that our troops our fighting in Kandahar province are the same insurgents that will again fight to instill this brutal regime on the people of Afghanistan. They are the same insurgents that would forbid girls from going to school and would forbid basic health care needs to women.
We have a chance in Afghanistan to make a real difference in the lives of people who want the same things we want here in Canada. The Afghan people want a better world for their children than the one they have.
Let us look at the progress in the few short years we have been there: the vaccination of more than seven million children against polio, including approximately 350,000 in Kandahar province; the delivery of food aid to more than 400,000 people in Kandahar; and 83% of Afghans now have access to basic medical care.
We have made great strides in the economy of Afghanistan. Per capita income has doubled between 2004 and 2007.