The Liberals fended off attacks from both sides in question period Tuesday over their anti-ISIS plan unveiled last week. The Conservatives chided the Liberals for a renewed mission they say represents an end to combat, while the New Democrats argued the opposite is true.
Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose said the increased training mission, diplomatic and humanitarian efforts promised last week by the Liberals are important 鈥渂ut they are not fighting,鈥� unlike the CF-18 bombing mission expected to end this month.
鈥淭he prime minister thinks the only reason the Royal Canadian Air Force was fighting ISIS was because Canada was whipping out our CF-18s to see how big they were,鈥� Ambrose said, referring to comments Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made when he was in opposition.
Ambrose added that Canada鈥檚 CF-18s should stay in the region because 鈥淚SIS is still enslaving women and children 鈥� throwing gays and lesbians off the rooftop (and) murdering anyone who has a different belief system.鈥�
Trudeau responded that his government 鈥渉as always understood that ISIS represents a threat to innocents in the region and to stability and security around the world.鈥�
Trudeau said allies are supportive of the Liberal plan, which includes tripling the number of Canadian special forces trainers on the ground in Iraq. He quoted Col. Steve Warren, the man in charge of the U.S. mission against ISIS, who said last week that 鈥渨e are not going to bomb our way out of this problem.鈥�
Warren said the Iraqi army needs to be trained, and that 鈥渢he Canadians agree(ing) to triple their presence (is) extraordinarily helpful.鈥�
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, on the other hand, quoted Canada鈥檚 Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance, who said last week that putting more trainers on the ground 鈥渋s riskier overall.鈥�
鈥淒uring the election Canadians were led to believe that, under a Liberal government, the mission in Iraq and Syria would be scaled back and that Canada would no longer participate in a combat mission,鈥� Mulcair said.
鈥淗owever, General Vance said that with the Liberals鈥� new mission, the lives of the men and women in the military are actually at greater risk,鈥� he added.
鈥淥ver the weekend the defence minister also admitted this is indeed an expansion with greater risk,鈥� Mulcair went on. 鈥淐an the prime minister please explain how we can call this a non-combat mission when there is in fact more risk for our troops on the front line?鈥�
Trudeau said 鈥淐anadians have always been willing to step up when the need is there, to have a positive impact in the world, and we will continue to do so.鈥�
Conservative defence critic James Bezan later told the house the Liberal plan is 鈥渁 non-combat mission, so we鈥檙e not in the fight鈥� and that pulling the CF-18s will 鈥渆ndanger troops,鈥� citing a December attack where he said the jets 鈥減rotected our troops and allies from a major ISIS attack.鈥�
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said that he was briefed on the December incident and that 鈥渙ther coalition jets also participated in that strike.鈥�
鈥淲e are tripling our training capacity, doubling our intelligence and, as the collation commander said to me,鈥� Sajjan added, 鈥溾�� our plan is forward-looking and this is exactly what they need.鈥�
When asked earlier in the day, Sajjan would not say when the Liberals plan to call a debate on the new mission, only that it will be 鈥渟oon.鈥�
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel later told CTV鈥檚 Power Play that she and Liberal MP Marco Mendicino had recently travelled to the Syrian border.
鈥淥ur contribution made a real difference with the CF-18s,鈥� Rempel said. 鈥淚t stopped the spread and the expansion of this group that is raping and beheading people. This isn鈥檛 some academic exercise. This is a group that is systematically committing genocide.鈥�
Mendicino responded that 鈥測ou can鈥檛 say, on the one hand, 鈥榶ou鈥檙e not doing the heavy lifting鈥� and then have another party in opposition say, 鈥榳ell you鈥檙e doing more heavy lifting by adding more personnel there.鈥欌��
Rempel interrupted, saying the Liberals 鈥渃an鈥檛 sit in the mushy middle when people are dying. Take a position.鈥�
Mendicino responded that allies have told him they appreciate Canada鈥檚 contribution and that the government 鈥渋s entitled to look at its resources and allocate them appropriately.鈥�
NDP MP Jenny Kwan told Power Play that Canada should focus on making sure people don鈥檛 get radicalized in the first place, and stopping the flow of arms and funding to ISIS. 鈥淭he NDP has always taken the position that we should not be playing a military role.鈥�
