Mr. Speaker, let me begin by responding to that question as follows.
First of all, on this side of the House, we do not look at people as juniors and seniors. Every member who is present in the House this evening, and any other evening or any other day, is representing well over 100,000 constituents, certainly in Ontario, and perhaps a little less than that in some other regions of the country. However, every member is important and every member is senior.
The fact that there are so many members here tonight is a testament to the conviction of the people who are elected by their respective constituents. I applaud everyone who is here participating in this important debate this evening.
In response to the question, the member knows very well that, I believe it was on September 5 of this year, the leaders of the opposition parties were briefed by the Minister of National Defence on Canada's plans and how we were going to move forward. It was our hope, of course, that the leadership of the other parties would inform their members, engage them in discussion, and impart upon them the information that was discussed with the Minister of National Defence.
In addition, let me just say that I am a little surprised to hear the question from the hon. member, because I believe he was one of the people who was invited by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to visit Iraq and see the impact there. I would hope that he would be very supportive of this effort as it is very much needed in Iraq.
This is not the time to play political partisan games. I believe it is time for us to behave and act as a responsible united government, parties all together.