Mr. Speaker, the key word here is “leadership”. We announced and promised this during the campaign, as was clearly understood by many Canadians.
Anna Macdonald, director of the Control Arms Secretariat, said:
Canada's absence from the ATT [the Arms Trade Treaty] was a strange exception over the last few years, and we are greatly encouraged by the current government's commitment to accede to the treaty in the near future. This presents a tremendous opportunity for a return to the leadership in disarmament and peace issues for which Canada was once renowned, for example, through the leadership which led to the Ottawa convention and subsequent mine ban treaty signed in Ottawa in 1997.
It is exactly that: leadership at home, and leadership in the world.