Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for the spirit of co-operation his party showed on our mission to Washington, D.C. and the very valuable contribution he makes to debate on defence issues in the House.
At the end of my remarks I said that we are far better off solving these problems before we send Canadians on these difficult and dangerous missions. We cannot expect them to go not knowing what situation they will be in with respect to compensation, because it has a big impact on their families.
Obviously, the minister has some work to do before we send troops to Latvia, which, again, we have all-party support for doing, but let us make sure they know what they and their families can count on before they go on that mission. The same would be true before we take on an African peacekeeping mission. Let us make sure we get these problems solved before we send Canadians abroad.