The Trudeau government's recent announcement that it will end Royal Canadian Air Force strikes against ISIS has, not surprisingly, generated both adamant support and vocal opposition.
Six Canadian CF-18 jets have been taking part in raids in Syria and Iraq as part of a coalition of forces, which also includes jets from the U.S. and the U.K.
The Canadian attacks will end no later than Feb. 22, the PM said.
"It is important to understand that while airstrike operations can be very useful to achieve short-term military and territorial gains, they do not on their own achieve long-term stability for local communities," Trudeau said.
"Canadians learned this lesson first-hand during a very difficult decade in Afghanistan, where our forces became expert military trainers renowned around the world."
As well as ending the airstrikes, the government says it plans to increase the number of Canadian forces members involving in training ground troops to fight ISIS, and will provide an additional $840 million in humanitarian assistance over the next three years.
The Liberals had made ending the airstrikes a campaign issue in the recent federal election. The strikes began under the former Stephen Harper Conservatives and continue to have the support of current Tory MPs.
“In his first major foreign policy decision, the prime minister has shown that Canada is not 'back.' In fact, this prime minister is taking a shameful step backward from our proud traditions by pulling our CF-18s and Canada out of a combat role against the greatest terror threat in the world,” said interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose.
A recent poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute found that 27 per cent of Canadians support ending the airstrikes, with 37 per cent saying the raids should continue and 26 per cent saying they should be stepped up.
The decision to end the airstrikes will come up for debate in Parliament starting this week, when the Conservatives will no doubt renew their calls for the strikes to continue.
However, with their large majority the Liberals will be able to push through with plans to end the attacks.
The decision to stop the airstrikes may or may not hurt Canada's reputation over the long term. What is certain is that debate over what should or shouldn't be done to meet the continued threat of ISIS should continue.
- Singleton is the Mountain View Gazette editor.
