“The Liberals and the Bloc tell me: rebalance the mission. What does that mean? I mean, what the hell does that mean?”
“We’ve got guys there, they’re in the most dangerous province in the country. Yes, we’re trying to do development and humanitarian assistance and we’re doing that. But the fact of the matter is that they’ve got guys shooting at them. And they’ve got the most concentrated group of enemy combatants right there. It isn’t an option to cut down the military side of the operation. They have to do what is necessary to protect the local people and protect themselves. And nothing less.”
Harper said it would be “completely irresponsible” to reduce Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan.
“If other parties want to go to the people and take that position - ‘We’d leave them there but we’d tell them not to defend themselves’ - let them explain that to the Canadian people.”
National Post
Stephen's stand
PM would rather get booted out than pull troops from Afghanistan
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU
OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he'd rather be booted from office than cut short Canada's controversial mission in Afghanistan.
Harper, whose Conservative government faces a non-confidence motion on the war from the Bloc Quebecois in mid-February, said his government has established "markers" for achieving success.
But he won't pin a date on withdrawing troops to appease the electorate.
"I will never, as prime minister of this country, abandon the short-run needs of our men and women who are in a war theatre, nor will I abandon the long-term needs, this country's long-term security interests, for any political reason, for any political poll, or anything," he said in a year-end interview with Sun Media.
"If we're defeated in the House, if we lose an election, so be it. I could not live with myself if I played political games with the lives of Canadians."
The confidence motion threatened by BQ Leader Gilles Duceppe has little chance of passing after Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said this week his party won't support it.
But Harper lashed out at the Bloc Quebecois for undermining the soldiers who are putting their lives at risk in the battle zone.
"Mr. Duceppe is a separatist and he obviously has his own motivations, and I think the sooner Mr. Dion completely distances himself from that kind of thinking, the better for the country, the better for him," he said.
The war in Afghanistan, along with the government's widely panned environmental plan, are sinking the Conservatives' popularity in Quebec, a key province in the next election. But Harper is unfazed by polls and predicts the Tories will handily win the next vote.
"A year ago, the polls had us even lower in Quebec than we are today and we won 10 seats. I'm unconcerned about it," he said.
"I don't want an election, I don't think the country wants an election, but I'll assure you if Mr. Dion fulfils his promise to the Liberal convention to force an election as soon as he can, our party will be the most ready for that election, and we'll win that election. But my preference is to govern."
Along with economic competitiveness, democratic reform and rebuilding the Canadian Forces, Harper predicted the environment will be central in the next campaign.
But he suggested chief rival Dion will have to answer for a dismal Liberal record.
"Canada has, on a range of environmental issues, some of the worst, probably the worst record, in the developed world, and Canadians are clear they want to see that changed," he said.
And while Liberal corruption won't be as central in the next campaign as it was in the last, Harper is confident Canadians are content with the country's direction under the Conservative rule.
"A year ago this country, its federal government, was paralyzed with inaction, mired in scandals and as a consequence, national unity was taking big hits, especially in Quebec," he said.
"That's changed, and I don't think Canadians are going to want to go back there unless they have some idea what the Liberals would do for them."
Edmonton Sun
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