Mr. Speaker, I would like to address the global threat of terrorism with which our nation and many others are menaced.
Many believe that this global threat of terrorism that we watch often on the evening news, playing itself out in faraway lands, is not our problem but rather somebody else's problem. These people who take this view argue that the terrorists of the world are either responding to provocation or are engaged in faraway conflicts that are of no concern to Canada.
They also argue that if we shrink ourselves into a cocoon and we make ourselves small and unnoticed, perhaps this menace will not entertain itself upon us. Maybe there is a burglar in the house but if we hide under the bed they will not bother us. Recent history, however, does not support this narrative.
Let us consider the kinds of terrorist attacks that have carried themselves out over the last five years around the world and learn why it is so important for us never to allow Afghanistan to once again become a staging ground for this sort of terrorism.
Before I do list the number of attacks and the geography of those attacks, I would like to point out that the terrorists who carry them out are not concerned with race or religion, or with foreign policy of the target nations upon which they are carrying out these attacks. They are totally indiscriminate and they are capable of attacking anywhere, at any time.
They attack Muslims in Istanbul, Turkey. They attack Arabs in Tarabin, Taba and Sharm El-Sheikh, all in Egypt. They attack Europeans in Madrid, Spain and British in London. They have tormented and murdered countless Israelis over long periods of time of our democratic ally in the Middle East, and, of course, they killed 24 Canadians on 9/11 in attacks on the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a downed plane over the United States.
We learned on that day, on 9/11, that if we do not go to Afghanistan, Afghanistan will come to us, and, thus, we are there today carrying out a UN-mandated mission, executed by NATO, part of roughly a three dozen-member coalition designed to defend and stabilize a democratically elected government at the request of that government.
The importance of carrying this effort to its ultimate conclusion cannot be overstated. If we leave now or before the job is done, the Taliban will surely capture ground. In the key battleground, that is, the southern province of Kandahar, that would allow a base of operations to form, which could then spread to other vulnerable provinces, like the neighbouring Helmand province, and eventually push its way north, recapture Afghanistan and turn it into the tyrannical, theocratic dungeon that it was before we arrived.
If that were to occur, we would once again have an entire nation controlled by those who seek our demise. This is a group that will attack anywhere or anytime, regardless of race, religion or foreign policy, and, as I have noted earlier, we are therefore subject to this menace, just as is every other free nation on the planet Earth.
Many of my colleagues have talked at great length about the projects that we are undertaking to provide basic necessities in Afghanistan in order to elaborate upon the social, physical and other forms of infrastructure already been built. I will not spend additional time on this because I believe it has been adequately covered. However, to expand education, to build roads and build accessibility to clean water, none of those good works will be possible if the workers, who are undertaking such works, are threatened on a regular basis by terrorists and extremists: thus the important and even quintessential role of our troops.
Our troops have shown, with great bravery, the sacrifices with which they are willing to give their lives and to turn over their efforts to secure the hard won gains that have been built up over this time.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs is also making note of the important work of our troops. I know he takes very seriously the work of our troops. That is why he is participating in the debate today.
On behalf of all my constituents in Nepean—Carleton, I want to say how grateful I am for the sacrifices of our soldiers and the lengths to which they are prepared to go to advance Canadian interest and defend Canadian security.
In this place we oftentimes honour those who have sacrificed before us. On Remembrance Day all of us attend 10 sometimes 15 different events in our communities to celebrate the role of past armed forces service people. A Liberal member is nodding in agreement that all of us hold these people in the highest esteem. We have carved on the stone wall outside of this room biblical inscriptions honouring those who gave their lives for their friends. It is the highest statement of loyalty to one's country. That is how we look back upon our grandparents and great grandparents.
What will our grandchildren and great grandchildren say of us? They will open their history books when they go to school. They will read of Canada's historic role, Vimy Ridge and Passiondale, in helping to advance the allied cause in the first world war. They will learn of our historic role in defeating Nazism, Fascism during the second world way and pushing back the tide of evil communism in Korea. They will read of the role of the government in the eighties in overturning the apartheid system of South Africa. They will learn all of these great stories of Canadian contributions all around the world.
Then they will get to our point in history, here in 2008. They will ask themselves and perhaps, even more important, they will ask us. They will say: “Your ancestors carried a great torch and they handed that torch to you. What did you do that was so great in your time? Did you shrink from the challenge when the going got tough or did you stand strong for the values that made Canada what it is? Did you stand by your convictions and sacrifice the most in order to achieve the best for the world and for the security of future Canadians?”
I want to be able to tell them that we stood strong, that we did the Canadian thing and that we saw through the mission that we set out to achieve. God bless Canada.