Mr. Speaker, I listened very carefully to the comments of the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas), and I appreciate the comments made in terms of the extremely recent activity by the government, which up until today was steadfast in its determination not to do anything and not to recognize the obvious.
I hear the calls by members, suggesting this is not a partisan issue. Considering that his government took a position to list various organizations on terrorist lists, would he explain to the House how that has been able to further enhance the ability for Canada to engage in an even-handed way in a conflict that has existed for some time?
The hon. member will remember the fact that in 1983, as this conflict began in earnest and the subsequent peace protest led by our friends in Norway, one of the most important and critical elements in that peace process, as fragile as it was, was to ensure that Canada took no drastic action until such time as a peace negotiation could take place. Instead the Canadian government, his government, took the position of going out and providing labels.
I appreciate the fact that the hon. minister may have a perspective on this, but I would ask the hon. minister this. Since he has pointed out that he is prepared to work in the area of political accommodation, would such an accommodation include Canada deploying troops, preparing itself to work with the United Nations, preparing to serve in a humanitarian capacity? How soon could we expect the government, now that it has made a 180° reversal in its position, to act to stop the unfolding tragedy, which was avoidable, in that part of the world?