#1Jan 17th, 2006
TORONTO (CP) - As Canadian troops prepare to do battle with insurgents in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, NDP Leader Jack Layton says the public is not in favour of going on the offensive in that war-torn country.
He pledged Tuesday to use his party's influence in the next Parliament to maintain the Canadian military's good-guy peacekeeper role around the world.
"Our view is that Canadians support the peacekeeping role," he said following a speech to the Toronto Board of Trade.
"But what Canadians do not support, in my view, is a war-like offensive role in the context of Afghanistan."
Roughly 2,200 Canadian troops are set to deploy to the dangerous Kandahar region, where just two days ago the political director of the Canadian provincial reconstruction team was killed in a suicide bombing against a military convoy. Three soldiers were also injured, two of them critically.
One of the missions of the multinational brigade, which will be led by a Canadian general, is to take the fight to remnants of the Taliban regime and al-Qaida in remote villages and mountains.
As he did earlier in the election campaign, Layton called for a halt to future troop deployments and a Parliamentary debate about the changing role of the mission.
He said the country's top generals should appear before the Commons defence committee "to explain precisely what the mission is now and how they see it changing."
The evolving nature of Canada's commitment to the NATO-led force has been the subject for public discussion for the better part of a year, as Defence Minister Bill Graham has given a series of speeches, warning the public to expect casualties.
Layton has denied he's late in coming to the discussion, saying his party has been calling since last spring for a debate on the switch from peacekeeping in the Kabul area to all-out war in Kandahar.
"Canada's role is the peacekeeping role, the peacemaking role, nothing more than that," he said.
"Canadians feel helping the Afghanis build a democratic society is a role that is appropriate for Canadians to play."
A move to offensive operations is "a significant change in Canadian foreign policy" that needs to be agreed upon democratically, Layton said.
His call for discussion puts him in line with the feelings of some other NATO countries, most notably the Netherlands, which is expected to debate pulling its troops out of Afghanistan in the coming weeks.
However, the Liberals and the Conservatives are apparently determined to press ahead with the operation.
Prime Minister Paul Martin has said the peace and stability of Afghanistan depend on Canadians taking on dangerous missions.
If they win Monday's election, the Conservatives have also made it clear that they will not withdraw Canadian troops from the fight.
But the uncertain political dynamics of minority government might force them to at least examine the question, especially if Layton's NDP hold the balance of power.
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