Ottawa Citizen

UN mission is still possible, PM says

Trudeau mum on where troops might be sent

- JOANNA SMITH

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not ruling out sending troops to a peacekeepi­ng mission this year, even though Canada has not yet told the United Nations what it is up to.

“We have a difficult history in Africa as peacekeepe­rs and we need to make sure that when we embark on any … military mission, we make the right decisions about what we’re going to do, how we’re going to do it, and the kind of impact we’re going to have on the ground and on Canadians,” Trudeau said Saturday.

“That’s a decision we’re not going to fast-track. We’re making it responsibl­y and thoughtful­ly.”

The Liberal government pledged last summer to provide up to 600 troops and 150 police officers for UN peacekeepi­ng operations, plus $450 million over three years on peace and stability projects.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan originally promised to reveal where they were headed by the end of last year. Military officials and Canadian diplomats put some work into figuring out where Canadian troops could make an impact, but an announceme­nt has yet to be made.

The Liberals ended up stalling their plans — including a request from the UN to lead the peacekeepi­ng mission in Mali — as the federal government tried to figure out the priorities of President Donald Trump and his administra­tion.

Jordan Owens, a spokeswoma­n for Sajjan, confirmed that Canada has not provided the UN with formal notice of its specific contributi­ons, saying “it would be inappropri­ate” to do so before the government has decided what that would be.

Asked whether that means Canada will not be sending more blue helmets out in the world by the end of the year, Trudeau said he would not draw that conclusion.

“We continue to look very carefully at ways to move forward on the strong commitment we made on peacekeepi­ng,” Trudeau said.

“We know that Canada has to play a strong and effective role on the world stage in ways that suit our capacities and we’re looking to make sure that that happens right,” he said.

Trudeau also stood firm on the Canadian line that its contributi­on to NATO should not be measured by the fact that it spends about one per cent of its GDP on defence, which falls short of the agreed-upon target of two per cent.

“Lots of different countries in NATO measure their contributi­ons in different ways. Canada measures its contributi­on by the amount of times and ways that we step up concretely on issues that matter,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau was on Parliament Hill for a rare weekend Liberal caucus meeting, where MPs discussed the budget and how to make the most of their remaining time in Ottawa before they head home for the summer.

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