Mr. Speaker, we have just had the definition of an ill-defined mission from the member opposite. He wants to protect minorities who we agree are in danger, religious minorities, ethnic minorities, many of whom have been resettled in Canada. More of them are stranded on mountains, fearing for their very lives in villages. However, he wants to do it without a military mission. There is no way to protect minorities, to protect these civilian populations without effective military action by Iraqi state forces, and they have asked for our support.
It is incredible that members opposite complain about the lack of a vote having, on this opposition day, forfeited the possibility of having a debate on just this issue that would have come to a vote.
Does the member opposite understand what he has heard here today, that this is a non-combat mission. It is an advisory mission for very specific numbers of Canadian Forces members, numbers that have been given in the House today, and that as such, it is unlike our first deployment to Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, which was a combat mission from day one, and more like the training and advisory mission that we had for the last few years of our time in Afghanistan. Does he understand that elementary distinction?