go duceppe go!

Duceppe doesn't want Cdns involved in Afghan fighting
January 25, 2007

MONTREAL (CP) - Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe doesn't want Canada's troops in Afghanistan to be involved in fighting.

Today in Montreal, Duceppe said the Conservative government should rebalance the Canadian mission. While Duceppe says he supports international intervention - adding that a sovereign Quebec would also do so - he wants the emphasis on reconstruction of the war-torn country.

The Bloc leader called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government to explain that Canadian soldiers are not in Afghanistan to serve American interests or to make war.

Duceppe says Afghanistan should not become another Iraq.


Gilles Duceppe wants Harper government to change focus of Afghanistan mission
January 25, 2007

MONTREAL (CP) - Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe says the Harper government should adjust the focus of Canada's mission in Afghanistan to reconstruction.

Duceppe reiterated his support for the international intervention in the war-torn country, saying on Thursday that even a sovereign Quebec would take part in such a mission.

"I've got a lot of admiration for the men and women who are ready to risk their lives to serve their country and help others," he said. "It's for this reason we have to act responsibly and with a lot of determination to pursue our objectives of reconstruction.

"We're asking for changes in the attitude of the Canadian government, so that it will propose a re-balancing of the mission," he said.

Duceppe said Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper should recognize there's an urgency to act because the situation is deteriorating.

"Afghanistan is not another Iraq and we will do everything we can so that Afghanistan does not become another Iraq," Duceppe said during a speech to the Montreal Council on International Relations.

The Bloc leader also called on the government to explain that if Canadian soldiers are in Afghanistan, they are not there to serve American interests or to make war.

Duceppe also said concrete steps should be taken to provide short-term humanitarian aide, road construction and infrastructure before the summer and the next Taliban offensive.

Duceppe said the government should "seriously examine" a strategy to deal illegal drug trafficking.

"I suggested last spring to study the possibility of buying the poppy harvest and using it to make medication."

"That's something which is already done in other countries, notably India," he said.

"The British Medical Association has recommended that Afghan opium be used to make diamorphine, which would help fill a shortage of this medication."

Duceppe got high marks for his speech from political scientist Louis Balthazar.

"Canada has a right to be there and Duceppe didn't challenge that . . .It was courageous on the part of Duceppe to defend the intervention when 65 per cent of Quebecers are against it," Balthazar said in an interview.

He also said Harper has to do a better job promoting the mission.

"He (Harper) has to explain to the Canadian population why we are there, what we expect . . .there must be more of a democratic debate," said Balthazar, who teaches at Laval University in Quebec City.