Harper seeks to extend, expand ISIL mission
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper intends to ask Parliament next week to “extend and expand” Canada’s participation in the war against the Islamic State, possibly erasing the geographic distinctions that have so far shaped the conflict.
The planned motion drew a sharp rebuke from NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, who declared his party would oppose it and that the country had no business fighting in Iraq, or elsewhere.
On at least two occasions recently, Defence Minister Jason Kenney has mused that CF-18s could be asked to fly strike missions against extremist targets in Syria.
Harper is not ruling out that possibility.
Last fall, Parliament approved Canada’s participa- tion in U.S.-led coalition air strikes against the forces of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), but limited the involvement to Iraq and set a six-month lifespan.
The mandate runs out on April 7.
“Next week, it is the government’s plan to move forward with a request for Parliament for extension and expansion of the mission,” Harper said Wednesday in Mississauga, Ont.
Mulcair said the United Nations has not authorized military action.
“I can guarantee you we’ll once again be opposed to any involvement of Canadian troops in what is simply not our war,” Mulcair said during a stop in Burnaby.
Sources have told The Canadian Press that an extension would likely involve a commitment of more than six months, in part so it doesn’t expire during the fall election campaign.
Last fall, the motion passed by MPs explicitly ruled out deploying ground troops for combat operations, although 69 special forces soldiers were assigned to train and advise Kurdish troops. It’s not clear how the special forces mission will be affected by next week’s request.
Only the U.S. and its Persian Gulf allies have flown strikes into Syria, where the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad has been fighting both Islamic State extremists and a collection of rebel factions in a four-year-old civil war that has left mor than 200,000 people dead.