For Your Information
Parliament Votes
to Extend Afghan Mission to 2009
On May 17, following six hours of debate, the Canadian parliament decided by a vote of 149 to 145 to extend the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan by an additional two years. One hundred and twenty-five Conservatives and 24 Liberals voted for the motion, while 65 Liberals, 49 Bloc Quebecois and 29 NDP voted against. Ten Liberal and two Bloc MPs were absent for the vote.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper claims that the parliamentary vote on the decision to extend the mission was the fulfillment of his pre-election promise that all Canadian military commitments would be decided on by parliament, rather than by Cabinet alone. However, prior to the debate on the issue Harper announced that even if he lost the vote in parliament he intended to extend the mission by a year. Furthermore, the debate was held on six hours notice in order to ensure that there was insufficient time for Canadians to mobilize against the decision. In his speech to parliament Harper claimed that a long debate on the issue would leave Canadian troops “vulnerable to violent enemy attacks”, although he failed to explain what connection, if any, exists between the two. He also implied that the Liberals, Bloc and NDP were being hypocritical in their opposition to an extension of the Afghan mission, given their support for the initial deployment of Canadian troops to that country in 2002.
Despite a massive propaganda campaign by the federal government and the monopoly media to convince Canadians of the correctness of the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan, more than half the respondents in recent polls indicated that they were opposed to any extension of the mission.