Harper slams Bloc threat to bring down government over Afghan mission (Canada's PM standing firm)

CP via Canada.com ^ | Tuesday, December 12, 2006 | Alexander Panetta

[GMMAC]

Harper slams Bloc threat to bring down government over Afghan mission

Alexander Panetta, Canadian Press
Published: Tuesday, December 12, 2006

OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is accusing the Bloc Quebecois of using the country's soldiers as political pawns in the debate over Canada's role in Afghanistan.

Harper said the Bloc's threat to introduce a non-confidence motion sometime in the new year over his handling of the Afghan mission is careless and hypocritical.

"Our soldiers in Afghanistan . . . are participating in the economic development of the country and they are providing humanitarian assistance, but the situation is very dangerous," Harper told the House of Commons on Tuesday.

"The only problem here is the political opportunism of the leader of the Bloc Quebecois . . . He's just playing political games on the backs of our soldiers."

Duceppe retorted that he continues to support Canadian troops being in Afghanistan - but that he's challenging Harper's leadership on the file. He said the government is too obsessed with fighting terrorists and not enough on rebuilding Afghanistan.

Duceppe noted that NATO's commander in Afghanistan - British Lt.-Gen. David Richards - has warned that 70 per cent of Afghans could switch sides and support the Taliban within months unless they see tangible construction results on the ground.

"I've never said there should be no military role. We've never said that," Duceppe said.

"What we need is a rebalancing so that in three years we don't end up with a Baker report on Afghanistan, like we've got for Iraq now."

He also took a more personal jab at Harper and accused him of a simplistic, us-against-them worldview that is doomed to fail in Afghanistan.

"It is the ideological approach of the prime minister that allows him to look at the world in terms of good guys and bad guys. He sees everything in black and white."

Government officials said Duceppe's criticism hasn't included much in the way of detail about how exactly the mission might be "rebalanced."

Conservatives note that their government has more than doubled humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, to $100 million annually over 10 years.

The Canadian who recently led the NATO mission for nine months also points out that reconstruction is going on.

Brig.-Gen. David Fraser says 146 kilometres of new roads and more than 100,000 metres of irrigation canals were finished during his stint. Another 1,000 wells were dug in Kandahar province by Nov. 1, when the Dutch assumed control of the mission.

However, the mission has become increasingly controversial with mounting casualties that have seen 44 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat killed.

The other opposition parties have suggested they might support a Bloc motion on Afghanistan, which would give them enough votes to topple the minority government.

Such a move would be especially tricky for the Liberals.

Their caucus includes numerous critics of the current mission. But they sent troops to Kandahar in the first place and also have a number of mission supporters within their ranks.

And even though the mission is especially unpopular in Quebec, the Bloc's criticism also carries some political risk.

Perhaps their biggest challenge in the next election will be regaining the seats they lost to the Tories in the Quebec City region - which is home to the Valcartier military base, soldiers' families, and 2,000 troops who will be heading to Afghanistan next summer.

© The Canadian Press 2006

[GMMAC]

PING!

[AmishDude]

What? Now it's Afghanistan? I thought that was the good mission. The Left lies.

[Dog Gone]

I've never quite understood why Canada doesn't let Quebec become independent. I think I'd support San Francisco, Portland and Seattle becoming independent.

We'd export a whole bunch of anti-Americans to another country.

[fanfan]

We'd export a whole bunch of anti-Americans to another country.

Fine, but which country?

How about Cuba?

[kanawa]

"It is the ideological approach of the prime minister that allows him to look at the world in terms of good guys and bad guys. He sees everything in black and white."

What shade of gray is the Taliban in this pig's view?

[headsonpikes]

I've never quite understood why Canada doesn't let Quebec become independent.

Because we are one country, bound together by remorseless history. Thirty years ago, more or less, the Trudeau-led Liberals initiated a process, a movement even, to expunge actual Canadian history, and replace it in the schools and media with a Potemkin village of a Canadian history, filled with struggling workers and women oppressed by the patriarchy, various other folk-marxist takes on life and let's not even approach the First Nations question.

I see I'm starting to slide into a rant, so I'll just say the politically correct Canadian Establishment party line is false ... faux - it's all BS in both official languages.

Canadian history is actually compelling, inspiring, and ... almost lost. Harper is proving to be a tough, smart leader. So there is hope!

[Dog Gone]

I understand that, and I don't mean to get you fired up, but would Canada really be off worse without Quebec? They don't like you, they're liberal, they're basically French.

Wouldn't you be richer, more conservative and more cohesive without that province?

[Arizona Carolyn]

Maybe we should -- send them to Cuba. Might appreciate what they left behind after a few weeks or months.

[fanfan]

Wouldn't you be richer, more conservative and more cohesive without that province?

Problem being that Quebec is this big geographical area, smack in the middle of our country.

Imagine the Midwest US separating......

[Peter Libra]

On the independence of Quebec.

Might be a matter of geography. They sit right there between the Maritime Provinces and then Ontario. Of course if they drew a border line and cut us off, problems might arise.

I visualized a great railroad running parallel through the United States to circumvent this. Possible but who knows?

If they got independence and then their economy suffered, then the Quebec dollar would be worth 40 cents US funds About 50 cents Canadian funds . If the Quebecer paid twice as much for groceries and tobacco, the blood would run in the streets- the separatists. Just a little laugh here.

Those places you mentioned becoming independent from the USA, would end up crawling on their hands and knees to get back,five years later. Free speech there- nah.

I can just see it. LOL

[GMMAC]

Aside from Harper's marvelous defiance of Duceppe in particular & leftists in general, the most significant part of the article is its final 2 lines:

"And even though the mission is especially unpopular in Quebec, the Bloc's criticism also carries some political risk.

Perhaps their biggest challenge in the next election will be regaining the seats they lost to the Tories in the Quebec City region - which is home to the Valcartier military base, soldiers' families, and 2,000 troops who will be heading to Afghanistan next summer."

Make that 8 (!) Quebec City area seats (like Congressional Districts) which went straight from the Bloc to the Conservatives last January and a Military base which is home to The Royal 22nd Regiment: Canada's Fighting 'Van Doos'.

A lot of Canada, including Quebec, is somewhat like New York State in the sense that, once you get past the urban areas, there are plenty of decent, 'normal' folks to be found.
The Greater Montreal Area Montreal with less than 1/3 of the province's total population gives people an unduly negative impression of Quebec as a whole in much the same way those American cities you've named color general perceptions of the entire respective States in which they're located.

[fanfan]

Weeks or months?

LOL!
Maybe.

[Dog Gone]

Yeah, that's a problem. I can't think of an analogous country in the world that has a major independent country it surrounds.

[fanfan]

Yup.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"What? Now it's Afghanistan? I thought that was the good mission. The Left lies."

It's the mirror image of the old joke (... yeah it's an awful war; but it's the only one we've got.) -- in this case the joke goes: "yeah its a righteous war; but it's the only one we've got to oppose."

[mkjessup]

"It is the ideological approach of the prime minister that allows him to look at the world in terms of good guys and bad guys. He sees everything in black and white."

And THAT my good FRiends to the North, is one of the greatest strengths of Stephen Harper, the courage to see the world in stark contrast, not in wimpy, endless shades of grey that seek to placate everyone while producing nothing but ambiguity and chaos.

The fact is, the Taliban ARE the bad guys and the quicker they are killed by the bushel, the better.

Wipe their asses out until the only trace of them is a sketch of Mullah Omar's one eye in an obscure Afghan library history book.

[GMMAC]

It may surprise you but, the Liberal Party gangsters haven't won a majority of Quebec's federal seats in now almost three decades.
In many quarters of the province they're actually far more despised than they are in English Canada precisely because Quebecers know them just that much better.

Interestingly, this hatred for the Librano$ skews Quebec politics in ways most outsiders are unaware:
In many parts of the province a lot of the separatist vote is actually an anti-Liberal vote while, in other areas, people hold their noses to vote for them because they're more afraid of the Bloc separatists.

Both the Liberals & the Bloc Quebecois are rightly terrified by the recent rise in popularity of our Conservatives since both well know the basis of their support is anything but firm in many parts of the province.

[Unrepentant VN Vet]

......or could it be that Harper is drawing this line in the sand in the hopes that he will get to hold elections sooner rather than later?

The libs are still trying to figure out if they're a chicken or an egg, the media STILL hasn't got a storyline that doesn't date back to the last century, none of Harper's opposition seem to know what "coordination" means and support of the military has both increased AND almost become the sole province of the Conservatives.

Add to that the fact that your Parliament hasn't been in session long enough to allow any of the children to screw up and give the opposition a talking point.

If the Bloc goes through with this one-trick pony act (and they'll have to get lib support to have a prayer), Harper can just let it happen, call for new elections and then break out the paintbrushes and ball bats.

I usually don't like movie catch lines, but I can almost hear Harper doing a Dirty Harry:

"Go ahead, make my day."

[GMMAC]

Doubt there's much chance the government's going to fall over the Afghanistan mission.
Beyond the CPC Caucus, Harper only needs a little over two dozen votes (depending upon attendance in the House) to carry the day.
And most likely - between Opposition MP's known to have some principles and/or patriotism & those who don't dare oppose it because they well know doing so would render them dead meat in their home Constituencies - Harper has those votes, and maybe 5-10 more, in hand.

If I had to bet money (although maybe not a lot) on the specific hill upon which Stephen's going to choose to let his government die, it will most probably bear a very large sign stating "tax-dollar sucking, ineffectual Gun Registry".
Especially now that the Accountability Act has now been passed.