Syria crisis dominates campaign
Partisan lines drawn as leaders clash over response to migrant issue
OTTAWA — The charged debate over Canada’s acceptance of Syrian refugees — the subject of tear-choked addresses this week by all three major party leaders — began settling on to more familiar partisan turf Friday as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP Leader Tom Mulcair sparred over Canada’s military role in the conflict.
Harper, Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau each in their own way have acknowledged that a more focused humanitarian effort is needed to speed the movement of displaced Syrian families into Canada. Their emotional pledges to do better followed revelations Thursday that the family of a drowned three-year-old Syrian boy, photographed lying in the surf of a Turkish beach, had aspired to come to Canada, where they had relatives in Vancouver.
But the common spirit of compassion, unusual in the midst of a federal election, began fraying before Thursday was over and by Friday the bitter ideological divisions were back in plain view.
Mulcair dismissed military action, specifically Canada’s current bombing campaign in Syria and Iraq, as a solution to the refugee flood that is overwhelming Europe and capturing worldwide attention.
Speaking at a seniors’ residence in Brossard, Que., Mulcair said the gut- wrenching plight of Alan Kurdi, his fiveyear-old brother, Ghalib, and their mother, Rehenna — all drowned while trying to flee Turkey for Greece — is not the kind of tragedy that can be solved by military force.
“When I hear the answers from the prime minister, saying, ‘Well, more war is the solution,’ well, no amount of military action would have saved that child on that beach,” he said.
“Let’s start acting to save lives immediately. Canada’s done it in the past and we can do it again.”
At a Conservative rally in Whitehorse, Harper pounced, calling the NDP’s approach a “cop- out” that is “deeply ideological.”
“It is deeply wrong and it is out of step with what Canadians believe,” Harper said.
Campaigning Friday in Richmond Hill, Ont., Trudeau focused on the logistics of bringing Syrian refugees to Canada more quickly.
“There’s been a bit of a Catch22 that the UN can’t designate someone until they’re accepted in Canada, and that they can’t be accepted in Canada until the UN designates them,” the Liberal leader said.
“It is more likely more complex than that, but I think it is very clear that what is needed in this case is for leadership in our country that stands up and says we want to start accepting tens of thousands of refugees in an immediate way.”
The refugee crisis has sideswiped a central debate in the race to the Oct. 19 federal election, which had been shaping up as a battle over economic management.
Unemployment figures for August released Friday added more grist to that mill. Statistics Canada reported the Canadian economy gained 12,000 jobs last month, bolstered by gains in full-time employment. However, because more people were looking for work, the jobless rate actually increased to 7.0 per cent, up from 6.8 per cent.
Let’s start acting to save lives immediately. Canada’s done it in the past and we can do it again.
TOM MULCAIR NDP LEADER