Mr. Chair, I would point out to my hon. colleague that I rose very gently to my feet to ask him this question.
I listened to his speech, and I am trying very hard to understand what it is exactly the NDP wants the government to do. I am instructed by comments his colleague, the NDP critic for foreign affairs, made on January 8, on the Power & Politics with Evan Solomon show, where he said, “We would be very different. This is what the NDP would be doing right now”. That was on January 8, just a few days after the French troops landed in Mali. He said, “First of all, we'd be engaged with peacekeeping, peace-building”.
Evan Solomon said, “So, is it troops on the ground?”
He said, “We would have a conversation with our partners to say 'what can Canada do?'”
Evan Solomon said again, “but you would consider...”.
The NDP foreign affairs critic replied, “[A]ll options are on the table”.
If they are not considering boots on the ground, Canadian soldiers on the ground in Mali in some way, what exactly did his colleague, the critic for foreign affairs, mean? Perhaps he could explain it to us and enlighten the Canadian people on that point.