Mr. Speaker, we need to reiterate that the whole issue here is that the Prime Minister and his government had indicated that they would ensure that Parliament would have a say, that this would be debated, and that we would be able to have a vote on whether or not troops would be sent out in the future on missions such as this one.
I want to bring to your attention as well the fact that the Rideau Institute also called this move reckless. It states, “Without a comprehensive strategy it is a reckless step, and it is a step that I don’t believe that Canadians want.” It has the same opinion that we do, which is that we need to have a strategy and we need to have the details in order to make an informed decision and in order for Canadians to be well informed about why we are sending our troops there.
This is a government that has cut funding up to 61% in some of the departments. This is a government that takes pieces or parts from museums to offset our equipment. We need to make sure that we are prepared and we need to make sure that we are doing it right.