Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are very concerned with the comments made by the Minister of Defence yesterday when he said we must not “repeat the mistakes of the past”.
Over 40,000 Canadians served in Afghanistan. One hundred and fifty-nine gave their lives. Was it a mistake that the hard work of our armed forces enabled millions of children to go to school, including over three million girls? Was it a mistake that we restored the rights of women so they could work and have health care? Does the minister believe these successes, as we fought the Taliban, were all just a mistake?