Canada briefed one hour before U.S. airstrike

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says new information received Thursday night from the United States persuaded him that Syrian President Bashar Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack on his people this week.

The government was briefed about an hour before a barrage of U.S. cruise missiles was launched Thursday against an airbase in Syria, said Trudeau.

He then spoke by phone Friday with President Donald Trump.

The strike prompted an abrupt change in Trudeau’s position: after stopping short Thursday of directly blaming Assad, he accused the Syrian government on Friday of using chemical weapons against its own people.

The Conservative opposition seized on Trudeau’s comments and accused him of flip-flopping.

But Trudeau made clear he received new information from a credible source, telling reporters in Nova Scotia: “A trusted and reliable ally in the United States informed us that the Assad regime was responsible for these chemical attacks.”

Trump and Trudeau discussed the need for a “political solution” to the Syria crisis, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Trudeau disclosed the discussions during a long-awaited statement Friday in the House of Commons following Thursday’s strike — Trump’s response to a gruesome chemical attack Monday in Syria that killed more than 80 civilians.

Trudeau said that about an hour before the U.S. attack, U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis called Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, who then briefed the prime minister.

“This morning I spoke with the president directly and emphasized that Canada agrees that Assad’s repeated use of chemical weapons must not continue,” Trudeau said during question period.

“In the face of such heinous war crimes, all civilized peoples must speak with one voice.”

The PMO’s readout of the call said the two leaders agreed “that the repugnant chemical attacks cannot be permitted to continue with impunity. They also committed to continuing to seek a political solution to end the crisis in Syria.

Trudeau said Canada supports the “limited focused action” by the U.S. He also denounced the use of chemical weapons, saying “the crimes the Syrian regime has committed against its own people cannot be ignored.”