Mr. Speaker, no one on this side of the House has suggested, to my knowledge, that any Canadian Forces member mistreated prisoners. So that is not the issue at all.
I share the member's concern about what goes on in committee and not having access to documents that the witnesses are referring to, without even knowing what they are, how many documents there are, or what is in them. That would never happen in a public inquiry.
A parliamentary committee meeting lasts two hours a week, or an hour and a half at the last meeting I was at, and is a highly-politically charged environment when dealing with this issue. It is impossible to get at the truth. It is impossible to do more than contribute to the back-and-forth banter on a partisan basis about something that Canadians believe ought to be put to a public inquiry.
I would urge the government to do that, if for no other reason than to allow us to go on to other issues that are much more important. What are we doing in the future in Afghanistan? That is pretty important and we have to get to that.