Madam Speaker, I am not questioning the minister's character. I, too, like the minister. He is a gentleman, a lawyer, and as a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, I have nothing but the utmost respect for the service that he has provided Canada.
What I am questioning are the words he used to describe the Afghanistan mission as “mistakes of the past”.
I want to draw light to what General Tom Lawson, the former chief of the defence staff, said when he was in Afghanistan to close our mission there. He said, “As our flag comes down today, we look back on our mission with pride, knowing that through our efforts we have helped Afghans to gain the hope of a brighter and more secure future”.
Lieutenant General Stuart Beare, the former commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, said, “At the end of the day, the question is: have we made and have we seen real progress in Afghanistan?...The answer...is absolutely and undeniably yes”.