Mr. Speaker, sending Canadian men and women into harm's way is the most serious responsibility we have as legislators. yet the Prime Minister has refused to answer a single question in the House about the deployment for war.
It was in New York that he first mused about sending bombers to Iraq. Meanwhile, his hand-picked spokesman has treated the House of Commons as a crude circus, underlining Conservatives' disrespect not just for the institution of Parliament but for the Canadian people.
The Conservatives have systematically undermined the independent officers of Parliament who hold government to account; they have created black holes of secrecy around their ministers and turned parliamentary committees into kangaroo courts. However, now they have reduced Parliament itself to a debased sideshow on the eve of a war.
In a minute, the Leader of the Opposition will rise to ask the Prime Minister questions about the plan to deploy troops to Iraq. The Prime Minister has a chance to answer these questions in the House about sending our men and women overseas to fight another war. Will the Prime Minister do this?