Justin Trudeau pulls Canada out of air war on Daesh

[frigidmagi]

national post

Justin Trudeau will officially become prime minister and unveil his new cabinet on Nov. 4, but he remained vague Tuesday on when Parliament will return or when Canadian military aircraft will stop bombing Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria.

Trudeau’s first full day as prime minister-designate was a whirlwind of activity clearly aimed at showing Canadians that he would be a different type of prime minister, and that his Liberals would be a different type of government, than Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.

It started early in the morning, as the victorious Liberal leader shook hands and posed for selfies with dozens of excited morning commuters in Montreal. He later said Canadians had better get used to such interactions, despite what some will see as obvious security concerns.

“One thing I’ve shown throughout my career, and especially during the campaign and in the time that I’ve been leader, is, for me, being in touch with Canadians, hearing them, listening to them, is a big priority,” he told reporters. “I will continue to be open and accessible and in contact with Canadians.”

Trudeau returned to Ottawa around noon to deliver a speech to party volunteers and campaign workers. The Liberal leader told them that while it was a day to celebrate, “our hard work is only beginning. Our goal all along was not just to give Canadians a different government, but a better government.”

He talked about listening to scientists, working with the public service, and delivering on the many commitments he made during the marathon election campaign. He also delivered a message to Canada’s “friends all around the world.”

“Many of you have worried that Canada has lost its compassion and constructive voice in the world over the last 10 years,” he said, in reference to international criticism of the Conservatives’ foreign policy over the past decade. “Well, I have a simple message for you. On behalf of 35 million Canadians, we’re back.”

During his first press conference with Parliament Hill journalists as prime minister-designate, Trudeau revealed he’ll announce a cabinet on Nov. 4. That will also be the day Trudeau officially become Canada’s 23rd prime minister.

The Liberal leader reiterated his plan to have gender equality around the cabinet table, and said it would be smaller than Harper’s last cabinet. He said it was important to get a cabinet appointed as quickly as possible so the Liberals can start governing.

Yet Trudeau wouldn’t set a timeline for implementing specific campaign promises. Those include ending Canada’s bombing campaign against the Islamic State (ISIL); establishing a special panel to help appoint senators to the upper chamber; and beginning work on a new electoral system to replace the current system of first-past-the-post. He said his hands were tied until after the cabinet is in place.

“Our approach is to name a cabinet as quickly as possible,” Trudeau said when asked when his government would release the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal. “Until that point, our constitutional obligation is that we have a single prime minister, and on Nov. 4 it becomes me.”

Trudeau said he had spoken to U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday about a variety of subjects, including the war against ISIL and the Keystone XL pipeline.

“I committed that we would continue to engage in a responsible way that understands how important Canada has a role to play in the fight against ISIL,” Trudeau said. “But he understands the commitments I’ve made around ending the combat mission.

Asked specifically when the jets would be coming home, Trudeau replied: “We will be moving forward with our campaign commitments in a responsible fashion. We want to ensure that the transition is done in an orderly fashion.”

In March, Parliament approved a 12-month extension of the bombing mission and a related training effort in northern Iraq. The motion was adopted thanks to the Conservatives’ majority in the House. Both the Liberals and NDP opposed it.

Trudeau had also promised during the campaign that his first order of business when Parliament resumed would be to cut income taxes for middle-class earners. He also said his priority was “to make Parliament work and bring it back as quickly as is reasonable.” He said his team was looking at appropriate dates and times.

There was some suggestion that a number of international summits scheduled through November and early December could delay the resumption of Parliament. But while Trudeau confirmed his attendance at the UN climate change conference in Paris, his attendance at the others, including the G20, appeared up in the ai

[General Havoc]

Not that this guy cares about my support, but this is hardly the place I would have started for a brand new Canada. Let's leave one of the most evil regimes running at the moment unmolested so that the US can take the odium for anything that goes wrong in the effort to extirpate them. Wouldn't want to get in the way of the narrative of peace-loving, superior Canadians forced to live next to warmongering douchebags, now would we?

[Steve]

How much of a contribution is the Canadian contingent to the bombing campaign? Actually, how effective has that even been overall, since it seems we bomb some stuff but ISIS is still holding territory and even occasionally seems to take or retake stuff? I can see Canadians deciding there's no point in bombing since it doesn't seem to accomplish anything (Although I doubt they changed parties purely on that issue).

I mean, I can see a Canadian government basically saying "We cannot feasibly sustain our commitment to this effort, so we're going to help deal with ISIS in other ways".

[Josh]

I don't know what weight they're pulling here, but Canadians historically have been good folks to have along in tight spots.

[Cynical Cat]

A few points. One, Stephen Harper loved the idea of bombing brown people and so while these particular douchebags deserve bombing, this is part of a reaction against him and his "more war while fucking veterans over even harder Republican clone" agenda. Second, we're stopping bombing but pointedly still keeping Daesh on our shit list and will assist in helping them fail. We're just not going to do it with bombing right now.

You're going to give us time to get our house in order. It was an actual campaign promise and one that could be enacted immediately so yeah, it happened. It's not like the bombing effort is totally dependent on our modest little airforce to drop ordinance on them.

[Steve]

That's what I was thinking. Canada's contribution isn't going to be heavy given the limited size of the Canadian air fleet. Frankly, if anything is hurting this effort, it's all the Arab countries who are more interested in bombing Yemen.

[General Havoc]

No, Canada's contribution was not the make or break of the matter, and yes, one does understand the need to get one's house in order following an election, but I'd be interested to see just what Canada's intentions are vis-a-vis assisting in helping them fail are. Because from where I'm sitting, which of course is not somewhere Trudeau should care overmuch about, but still, it sounds an awful lot like the usual "why not let the US do the dirty work so that we can criticize them for it later?" routine that is so refreshingly and charmingly common in the rest of NATO.

I mean, it's the first week. It's only fair to give the guy a year or so and see what he comes up with. But making the first move as a Brave New Canada leaving us in the lurch to take the odium of having bombed brown people is not precisely how I was hoping this would go.