Mr. Speaker, my family has a long military history. No one in past generations related to me would shirk from any fight, especially when it comes to defensive wars, like World War I and World War II. I do think that the NDP would say in those circumstances that, of course, we have to have armed forces ready to fight in those circumstances.
However, it is the government's responsibility to convince us that this is a good mission, and it has not done that. It has waffled.
The one word I have not heard from the Liberals through this whole debate is “peacekeeping”. We have had this kind of light commitment to it during the election, but I do not hear it from that side. It used to be Canada's pride and joy that we were the peacekeepers of the world. We were the country that people came to when they wanted to settle disputes. I don't hear it from that side.
I hear combat missions and how we have to beat people into submission. That is not the image that I want to portray Canada to be, and my constituents do not want that either. I would like to hear more about peacekeeping from these members.