Bloc Threatens To Topple Canadian Government Over A-Stan

[Cpl Kendall]

CTV.CA

Duceppe threatens to topple gov't over Afghanistan

Updated Thu. Aug. 23 2007 4:57 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe has threatened to take down Stephen Harper's Conservative government in the fall, if the prime minister doesn't make a firm commitment to pull Canadian troops from Afghanistan by February 2009.

Harper has already implied he will not extend the mission beyond 2009 unless he has a consensus from the other parties.

But Duceppe said Thursday he wants an emergency debate on Canada's role in the Afghanistan once parliament resumes on Sept. 17.

His comments came one day after two soldiers from a Quebec regiment were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The body of fallen soldier Pte. Simon Longtin also returned to Canada on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Liberal Opposition Leader Stephane Dion agreed that Harper should give NATO a firm statement on pulling troops from Afghanistan by February, but said he would not make "threats" like Duceppe.

"Everybody knows there's a possibility of a ... confidence vote where the government can be defeated," he told reporters at a news conference Thursday. "I'm not saying today that's what I want."

Dion added that he would like to wait and see what the government proposes in its throne speech, expected in the fall.

The Afghan mission has been under intense scrutiny this week -- especially in Quebec where support is typically low -- as the number of Canadian casualties in the military continued to increase.

"These latest victims in the Afghan conflict remind us of the dangers and the difficult conditions under which soldiers working in the theatre of war are exposed," said Duceppe.

More than 600 Quebec residents were polled for their views on the Afghan mission just before Longtin was killed and then again right after.

The survey showed the approval rating for the war dropped from 35 per cent before Longtin's death to 28 per cent.

In the first survey, 57 per cent said they disagreed with sending the Van Doos to Afghanistan. After the news of Longtin's death, that number jumped to 68 per cent.

Canada currently has more than 2,300 soldiers in Afghanistan with more than 1,100 from Quebec's Royal 22nd regiment.

So here we are three dead soldiers from Quebec into the fray and the Bloc is threating to topple the government. My question is, and this may be an appeal to emotion: where the hell where they when it was the rest of the nations soldiers that were dying? I have friends that have done three tours now and are they less important than the soldiers from Quebec simply because they don't happen to eat poutine and speak French?

[Cynical Cat]

Please, we know what kind of assholes the Bloc is. They're just reading poll numbers and covering their asses in cases electorally. They have no principles other than to pull the country apart and go Robert Mugabe on Quebec.

[frigidmagi]

That or they really are that racist and think 3 Quebeci solders are worth more. Course that leads me to ask, you sent the troops into a combat situation, what did you think was going to happen?

[Cynical Cat]

Quebec, in general, tends to be really against Canadian military action. This is nothing new and more Quebecois casualties are just going to exacerbate the situation. Charles de Gaul may have gotten up and shouted "Long live a free Quebec!", but Quebec wasn't very enthusiastic about liberating France. Being opportunistic, power hungry douchebags who might have an election coming up, the Bloc is going to exploit it.

What is important, is that the current minority government could collapse because of this and Canadians will have to vote for the assholes they hate least because no one other than the Tories and the Bloc (who are both douchebags) has their act together.

[Cpl Kendall]

This of course leads me to wonder if this is the real reason why the government hasn't deployed troops from 5 Brigade (the brigade based in Quebec) until now. Harper must have known what a political hot potatoe it would be having anyone from 5 Brigade die in Afghanistan and they have basically waited until the absolute last minute in manpower terms to deploy them (waiting till the other two Brigades were just about spent).