Defence Minister Peter MacKay's spokesman, Dan Dugas, is circulating the following talking points at the moment, in response to Richard Colvin's new submission to the Afghanistan committee.

(As an aside: A fair bit of cut-and-pasting seems to be underway as he responds to queries today -- the exact same sentences have been sent to more than one CBC reporter in this office.)

"What more can we add?  In past weeks, we have heard from no less than
seven senior military and diplomatic officials who have all refuted Mr.
Colvin's claims. The events happened over three years ago and have been
thoroughly aired many times since then. When military and diplomatic
officials have been presented with credible, substantiated evidence,
they have taken appropriate action. The opposition is second-guessing
the actions of the Canadian Forces with four years of hindsight. The CF
has acted honourable [sic] in Afghanistan, we're proud of them, and to suggest
otherwise is disgraceful. We reject all assertions that Canadian troops
have committed war crimes."