Mr. Chair, I would like to begin by talking about the $13 million and $57 million. The $13 million is part of the $1.5 billion that is needed for 2013 alone. I can see just how good Canada's intentions are when I see that all of our traditional allies have given at least four or five times more. I think that it is a pittance, given that the need is so much greater: $1.5 billion.
As for what Canada can do, I spoke at length about that in my speech. We should focus on children, women and food security.
We are talking about a peacekeeping mission. During the 20th African Union summit on January 27, Ban Ki-moon spoke about the possibility of deploying peacekeeping forces in Mali. We are not saying that we will participate, but Canada could play a part. We could contribute financially to the European Union mission and participate in a potential peacekeeping mission.
That is part of the Conservative policy that we are criticizing. We should not be trying to fix the problem, we should be trying to prevent it. That is what a government does. It prevents these issues. We should not wait until someone falls, then help them up and offer a band-aid. We should try to keep them from falling in the first place. That is what we have been trying to do for months, in fact, for the two years since we were elected.