Great Lakes Region Of Africa  As for priorities there are other crises in the world as well. There are refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq. The problems in the entire Sudan are enormous. They are tragic and they are longstanding. Why do we decide now to help Rwanda? Why is Rwanda and the crisis there, a crisis which appears to be thankfully abating somewhat, suddenly at the top of the list?

Great Lakes Region Of Africa  At the end of the cold war, peacekeeping expanded and changed dramatically, if we consider the type, form and general nature of these operations. Both Conservatives and Liberals sent 20,000 peacekeepers to the borders of Iraq, to the UN Commission in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, the Western Sahara, to Rwanda and Somalia, to Salvador and Haiti, to Cambodia and the Balkans. At one point in the early 90s, more than 4,000 Canadian peacekeepers were deployed in various parts of the world.

Great Lakes Region Of Africa  It was easy for him to say in Bosnia: "We will only be there until 1996", but again the credibility of the whole political system is at question when the week after the election the Americans have now committed for 18 months more in Bosnia. I question how much longer it will be until they are back in Haiti. We can talk about Iraq and the bombings that went on there which we just in a matter of minutes agreed to. We can talk about Somalia and what the inquiry is showing, how U.S. diplomats, U.S. intelligence agents, U.S. military personnel told our people what to do.

Iraq  Mr. Speaker, could the minister report on the resumption of negotiations regarding this agreement, especially with respect to the rules to be followed by the observers responsible for monitoring implementation of the agreement in Iraqi territory?

Petitions  The first petition has 27 pages signed by many Canadians, including many from my riding. It states that whereas the human rights of the Kurdish people in Turkey, Iran and Iraq are being violated, and whereas the Canadian people strongly believe in the protection of human rights both at home and abroad, therefore they pray and request that Parliament use all the means at its disposal to encourage international mediation through the United Nations and the Canadian government for an immediate end to the Kurdish bloodshed, for the release of all political prisoners including Kurdish members of Parliament who are being held prisoner, and for the development of a permanent political solution to this problem.

Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act  Just as we can almost be sure that there is a link between the United States' recent intervention in Iraq and the upcoming American elections, and that is unfortunate. Obviously, this legislation is, or at least was, to strengthen the embargo around Cuba, in order to attract the votes of Spanish Americans.

Peacekeeping  Canada has good reason to be proud of its past performance, and must continue to work in conjunction with the United Nations on behalf of peace in Cyprus, Lebanon, Iraq and anywhere else in the world where human rights and international law are not being respected.

Cruise Missile Testing  Not only will the continuation of cruise missile tests give justification to other countries to develop new dangerous weapons, but once tested and developed, they will become potential products in the international arms trade. After the Iraq war we discovered that 90 per cent of the weapons used by Iraq against our own troops were sold to Iraq by the five great powers: the Soviet Union; China; France; the United Kingdom and the United States.

Export Of Military Goods  Need we remind the House that the Turkish air force and artillery were pounding civilian Kurds in northern Iraq at that very moment? Even though Canada ultimately sold 13 of its fighter aircraft to Botswana, the mere fact that it even dared to negotiate the sale with Turkey is reprehensible. There was reason to be concerned that these fighter aircraft would be used to bomb civilian targets.

Gasoline Prices  If this government is really interested in giving Canadians a break at the gas pumps, then I suggest a business partnership with the government of Iraq. Its oil could be exchanged for our food for the thousands of innocent children-

Energy Price Commission Act  The most ludicrous response I heard from the oil companies was the reason the prices are going up is that Iraq may be bringing production out of the markets. Economics 101 says very plainly that argument is a laughable falsity. If more production is coming on the market, more supply, less demand, the price goes down.

Supply  Unfortunately, no reparation has taken place and no action has been taken against those responsible for this genocide. Armenians are now scattered all around the world, in the United States, Canada, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, France, Lebanon, Syria and so on. But half of them are still living in Armenia. Canada's cultural heritage has been enriched by the arrival of 60,000 Armenians, I am told, 25,000 of whom live in Quebec.

Iraq  My question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Will our government consider requesting UN peace observers to visit the southern Iraq marshes to report on the following: Measures being taken to stop the free flow of water to the marshes and effectively destroying their ecostructure; a blockade around the marshes which restricts the movement of food, people and medical care; the systematic torture and murder of women, children and the elderly.

Iraq  Speaker, I rise today to condemn the savage, inhumane and ruthless actions of dictator Saddam Hussein in the southern Iraq marshes perpetrated on the one million marsh Arabs who live there. As Canadians we advocate and uphold human rights and must protest both a human and an environmental catastrophe which has been well documented and recently aired on CBC.

Defence Policy  The two world wars come to mind immediately, as does the Korean conflict and the most recent war in the Persian gulf. When the cold war ended, we had hoped this type of threat would recede, but as Iraq's invasion of Kuwait illustrated so forcefully, aggression and conflict are not yet things of the past. In addition to the many civil wars currently under way, tensions between nations are high and could easily lead to conflict.