Opposition MPs are expressing concerns about the governments handling of Canadas deepening role in the war against Islamic State militants, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper appears ready to seek parliamentary approval to once again send the country into a Middle East conflict.
In interviews Sunday, NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said his party opposes a combat role for Canada in the campaign against the Islamic State (IS), while Liberal critic Marc Garneau said the government must be crystal-clear on the objectives and role for Canadas military to guard against an open-ended commitment and mission creep.
Both MPs slammed the governments lack of transparency on the issue so far including Mr. Harper announcing while in New York City last week that the United States has asked for Canadian assistance in the fight as Washington seeks to build as broad a coalition as possible.
Mr. Harper said cabinet would discuss this week a request from the U.S. to support air strikes against IS forces. The most likely combat contribution would be a half-dozen CF-18 fighter jets and tanker aircraft that conduct in-air refuelling for war planes, in addition to extending the current non-combat effort of providing training for Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq and providing airlift capability.
There are some questions about whether Canadian Forces can contribute much in the way of combat support. Budget cuts at the Department of Defence have curtailed maintenance work on the CF-18s and it could take some time to deploy the jets or have them fly a lot of sorties, said David Perry, an analyst at the Canadian Defence Associations Institute.
Over the last three years, the big focus on the reductions to the Department of National Defence has been on its operating budget, so it has less flexibility now than it had historically to undertake a mission and to do it without getting extra funding, he said.
A spokeswoman for defence Minister Rob Nicholson, Johanna Quinney, said the Royal Canadian Air Force has the capacity to meet its operational needs.
Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister John Baird have vowed that any combat deployment would be put to a vote in the House of Commons, where Conservatives hold the majority of seats. Mr. Harper did not disclose the exact nature of the assistance sought, and it is possible the coalition which now includes France and Britain may not need Canadas CF-18s, but would instead seek a support capability and an extended training mission for special forces now operating in the Kurdish northern Iraq.
Mr. Dewar, who travelled to the country this summer with Mr. Baird, said his party would not support a combat role for Canada but wants to see a much greater humanitarian operation as Iraq struggles to cope with more than one million internally displaced refugees.
With everything weve seen so far, its hard to see how we can support the government, the NDP MP said. He said Iraqis, including Kurdish leaders, requested support for the humanitarian mission. Based on what is actually needed and what I think Canadians would support, we would be the first ones up for the support for the humanitarian assistance needed to save lives. But we couldnt get behind the kind of ill-defined combat mission these guys are talking about so far.
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Liberals, NDP wary of backing combat role in war against Islamic State militants