Mr. Speaker, I now rise in the House on the opposition side to ask a question of the government. For the last 10 years it was the other way around. However, due to the results of the election, that has been turned around.
At this time, let me congratulate the member for Burlington on her election to the House of Commons and her appointment as the parliamentary secretary for international development, a position I held before we changed positions up here.
The question I had asked the minister had to do with the international response to the Syrian refugee crisis. We all know that the situation is dire. We have seen a massive amount of Syrians taking dangerous risks while travelling across Europe to try to get away from the ravages of war. That is a very small answer to a bigger problem in that region.
During my tenure as the parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, I had the misfortune of visiting refugee camps in Turkey and Jordan, where we saw refugees who were running from the war, and they are in Lebanon too. Of course we are looking forward to the peace talks that will be taking place soon. We hope there will soon be a resolution to the Syrian conflict, and the Syrian people can go back home from the refugee camps.
The larger issue is that these people who are living in the camps need assistance from the world community. Canada has been one of the leading countries in providing this kind of assistance in the past. During the election campaign, our government announced that it would give over $100 million to the refugee crisis, as well as matching funds. I have noticed that the Liberal government has carried on with that program, which is a good thing to do. However, in the larger scheme of things, with respect to a long-term solution, it has not addressed what it will do and how it will assist the refugees in the camps in Syria, which is my question.
The Liberals have made the announcements that they will match the donations of Canadians who wish to help. By opening up their doors to the refugees, Canadians have shown that they are concerned about it and are willing to provide assistance. My concern is that I do not see any efforts, publicity, or anything on the part of the government to address this issue. Perhaps the parliamentary secretary can tell us what our government is doing.