Madam Speaker, I want to make a comment on the speech by the member for Calgary Forest Lawn.
It is important to remind the House why we are here today. When the previous government proposed the motion that authorized Canada's combat mission in northern Iraq and Syria in the fall of 2014, it was a mission proposed in the form of a motion in the House that had been worked on in concert with its allies. In fact, if we look at the wording of the October 7, 2014, motion, it is almost identical to a motion that was adopted in the British House of Commons at the same time. This was something that the government was doing because it was the right thing. It was also something done in close co-operation with Canada's allies, such as France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
What happened in the fall of 2014 is very telling. At the time, the Liberals decided not to support the government's motion, not out of any issue of substance but out of a pure political calculation. The proof was that at the time Irwin Cotler actually abstained from the vote, and many other Liberals criticized the Liberal Party's decision. The final proof is that the current government has had to twist itself into a pretzel with respect to the current motion in front of the House in order to continue with some sort of a mission against ISIS.
According to the current government, we will pull out the CF-18s in that area of the world but yet continue with our surveillance and the refuelling of aircraft. It is a nonsensical motion. It proves that the Liberals were playing pure politics when they made the decision not to support the previous government's original motion of 2014.