Vote could extend Canada's commitment to Afghanistan by 2 years

[tuvor]

The Conservative government is planning to move what has been described as a "substantial" motion in the House of Commons, extending Canada's troop commitment in Afghanistan by two years.

The current mission is scheduled to end in February 2007, but since coming to power, the Conservatives have told Canadians that they believe the military should stay for the long haul.

The issue has been discussed in the backrooms on Parliament Hill for the past few days. But pressure from the Harper government came to a head on Monday afternoon, resulting in an agreement from all parties for a debate on Afghanistan, beginning Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET.

The debate will last for six hours, and there will be a vote at 9:15 p.m. on extending the mission.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/15/debate05152006.html

[Spazito]

1. The faux Cons should have no problem with this

The Libs have to vote for it, they started it; the Bloc has been wedged in Harper's pocket and I don't forsee that changing and the NDP has been positively mealy-mouthed about the issue.

Sadly, this is a done deal.

[arikara]

2. Lets keep our fingers crossed on this, it isn't a done deal

Afghan mission vote faces defeat in Commons

Published: Wednesday, May 17, 2006

OTTAWA - The minority government's proposal for a two-year extension of Canadian troop deployment in Afghanistan was threatened with defeat Wednesday after NDP, Bloc Quebecois and Liberals objected to the rushed nature of the motion.

Liberal House leader Bill Graham said MPs "have had a gun put to our heads" and Liberals were free to vote with their conscience.

"Our caucus is totally and utterly united around that mission and around that objective," Graham told reporters. But the process by which the government sought an extension from February, 2007, was strange. "We find this process abusive."

The New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois said earlier they would oppose the motion. Assuming a full House, Harper would need about 30 Liberal votes for passage of the motion. House standings: 125 Conservatives, 102 Liberals, 51 Bloc, 29 NDP and one independent.

The government called the six-hour debate and vote to send a strong signal of resolve to Canada's NATO allies, as well as its Taliban enemies, but the opposition parties accused the minority Conservatives of simply trying to silence critics and to drive a wedge among his political opponents in the Commons...

<snip>

I'm sorry I haven't got a link. It was a National Post article that was sent out on one of my lists. If anyone wants the entire post, please pm.

[CHIMO]

3. Canada's stay in Afghanistan extended by 2 years

With the latest death of a Canadian soldier fresh in their minds, members of Parliament have voted to approve an extension of the military mission to Afghanistan.

The vote was close, but the government prevailed 149 to 145. It means Canadian soldiers will remain in Afghanistan two years longer than previously planned.

The death of Capt. Nichola Goodard, 26, was reported as the Commons gathered on Wednesday to debate the merits of a government proposal to extend the mission.

A defiant Prime Minister Stephen Harper led off the debate by declaring he would extend the mission by a year, with or without the support of the House, and would be willing to call an election on the issue, putting the ultimate decision directly into the hands of Canadians.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/17/afghandebate05172006.html

Bye bye Liberals. Just killed your chances in Quebec and it seems that the other guy is a better chess player than even Ignatiff. So the Bloc will take Quebec and the rest waits for a Leader.

[Spazito]

4. Yep, the Libs screwed themselves and so did Ignatieff

I can't wait to see which Liberals voted for it or against it that are also running for the leadership.

Edited to correct spelling error.

[Bragi]

5. Winners and losers..

I think Ignatieff is the real loser, since he has now confirmed as the main pro-war leadership candidate. This will certainly cause him problems being seen by many as an acceptable second ballot candidate.

Jack and the NDP came out fine, since they can now sustain their official two-faced position. On the one hand, they can tell antiwar voters that they voted against the extension, while telling pro-war voters that they continue to support the mission.

What Harper got out of the vote is less clear to me. He successfully divided the libs, but he also seems to have taken the issue off the table as a wedge issue for the next election. (Maybe)

The big losers last night were:

- The majority of Canadians who, according to polls, do not support the current mission, let alone any extension of it, a viewpoint that was completely without representation in last night's vote; and

- Canada's international reputation as a peace-promoting, internationally responsible, independent voice in the world.

- B

[Spazito]

6. Not a lot of argument from me on your points

Canadians, including our soldiers, were truly the big losers in this.

[daleo]

7. I think Harper made a mistake

He has now "taken ownership" of the Afghanistan mission, as they say. From here on in, it will be more and more his baby in the public's eye.

Yes, 24 Liberals voted for the extension, but that means 80 didn't. The Liberals will be able to claim that this free vote shows the caucus is actually very much opposed to the extension, and run on that in the next election (should they choose to do so). So, they have kept their options open.

Igantieff dug himself a hole that I think he won't be able to get out of. The Globe and Mail seems to favor Ignatieff, so the conservative power structure may not be too pleased with this outcome.

I think Harper was too clever by half. But it will take a while for that to become clear.

[Minstrel Boy]

8. How they voted

Lifted from Hansard, by way of Babble:


YEAS

Conservatives: 124
Abbott
Ablonczy
Albrecht
Allen
Allison
Ambrose
Anders
Anderson
Baird
Batters
Benoit
Bernier
Bezan
Blackburn
Blaney
Boucher
Breitkreuz
Brown (Leeds—Grenville)
Brown (Barrie)
Bruinooge
Calkins
Cannan (Kelowna—Lake Country)
Cannon (Pontiac)
Carrie
Casson
Chong
Clement
Cummins
Davidson
Day
Del Mastro
Devolin
Doyle
Dykstra
Emerson
Epp
Fast
Finley
Fitzpatrick
Flaherty
Fletcher
Galipeau
Gallant
Goldring
Goodyear
Gourde
Grewal
Guergis
Hanger
Harper
Harris
Harvey
Hawn
Hearn
Hiebert
Hill
Hinton
Jaffer
Jean
Kamp (Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission)
Keddy (South Shore—St. Margaret's)
Kenney (Calgary Southeast)
Komarnicki
Kramp (Prince Edward—Hastings)
Lake
Lauzon
Lemieux
Lukiwski
Lunn
Lunney
MacKay (Central Nova)
MacKenzie
Manning
Mark
Mayes
Menzies
Merrifield
Miller
Mills
Moore (Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam)
Moore (Fundy Royal)
Nicholson
Norlock
O'Connor
Obhrai
Oda
Pallister
Paradis
Petit
Poilievre
Prentice
Preston
Rajotte
Reid
Richardson
Ritz
Scheer
Schellenberger
Shipley
Skelton
Smith
Solberg
Sorenson
Stanton
Storseth
Strahl
Sweet
Thompson (New Brunswick Southwest)
Thompson (Wild Rose)
Tilson
Toews
Trost
Turner
Tweed
Van Kesteren
Van Loan
Vellacott
Verner
Wallace
Warawa
Warkentin
Watson
Williams
Yelich

Liberals: 24
Bagnell
Brison
Cullen (Etobicoke North)
Cuzner
Easter
Eyking
Folco
Graham
Guarnieri
Ignatieff
Lee
Maloney
McGuire
McKay (Scarborough—Guildwood)
Peterson
Redman
Regan
Rota
Savage
Simms
Thibault (West Nova)
Tonks
Wappel
Zed

Ind.:
Arthur


NAYS

Liberals: 66
Alghabra
Bains
Barnes
Beaumier
Bélanger
Bell (North Vancouver)
Bennett
Bevilacqua
Boshcoff
Brown (Oakville)
Byrne
Chamberlain
Coderre
Comuzzi
D'Amours
Dhaliwal
Dhalla
Dion
Dosanjh
Dryden
Fontana
Fry
Holland
Jennings
Kadis
Karetak-Lindell
Keeper
Khan
Lapierre
LeBlanc
MacAulay
Malhi
Marleau
Martin (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca)
Matthews
McCallum
McGuinty
McTeague
Merasty
Minna
Murphy (Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe)
Murphy (Charlottetown)
Neville
Owen
Pacetti
Patry
Proulx
Ratansi
Rodriguez
Russell
Scarpaleggia
Scott
Sgro
Silva
Simard
St. Amand
St. Denis
Steckle
Stronach
Szabo
Telegdi
Temelkovski
Valley
Volpe
Wilson
Wrzesnewskyj

NDP 29
Angus
Atamanenko
Bell (Vancouver Island North)
Bevington
Black
Blaikie
Charlton
Chow
Christopherson
Comartin
Crowder
Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley)
Davies
Dewar
Godin
Julian
Layton
Marston
Martin (Winnipeg Centre)
Martin (Sault Ste. Marie)
Masse
Mathyssen
McDonough
Nash
Priddy
Savoie
Siksay
Stoffer
Wasylycia-Leis

Bloc: 50
André
Asselin
Barbot
Bellavance
Bigras
Blais
Bonsant
Bouchard
Bourgeois
Brunelle
Cardin
Carrier
Crête
DeBellefeuille
Demers
Deschamps
Duceppe
Faille
Freeman
Gagnon
Gaudet
Gauthier
Guay
Guimond
Kotto
Laforest
Laframboise
Lalonde
Lavallée
Lemay
Lessard
Lévesque
Loubier
Lussier
Malo
Ménard (Hochelaga)
Ménard (Marc-Aurèle-Fortin)
Mourani
Nadeau
Ouellet
Paquette
Perron
Picard
Plamondon
Roy
Sauvageau
St-Cyr
St-Hilaire
Thibault (Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques)
Vincent


ABSENT OR NOT VOTING:

Liberals: 12
Bonin, Raymond
Cannis, John
Chan, Raymond
Cotler, Irwin
Godfrey, John
Goodale, Ralph
Hubbard, Charles
Karygiannis, Jim
Martin, Paul
Milliken, Peter
Robillard, Lucienne
Wilfert, Bryon

Conservatives: 1
Casey, Bill

NDP: 0

Bloc: 1
Bachand

[Spazito]

9. Thanks for the list!

It is good to know which Libs voted with the faux Cons for future reference!

[MrPrax]

10. If that's the vote...

then, interesting for the Lib big hitters that abstained and I count 2 lib leadership types that voted FOR Bush's imperialist wars...so Brison is hunting the same support as Gnatieff...hmmm

[Spazito]

11. Yep, and Dryden didn't hide and voted against

He has always struck me as a man of principle.

[glarius]

12. I agree about Dryden and

as far as people who I believe are principled and intelligent and would lead Canada well, I like Dryden and Stephane Dion. Of course neither of them have "sparkling personalities" so in today's world they are probably not viable.

[Spazito]

13. I would prefer Dryden over Dion if the choice were between the two because

Dion would be seen to be allied with the Chretien "faction", imo. I think it is important for the new leader of the party to be someone who is not seen as being either a Chretien or Martin loyalist in order for the Liberals to get past the infighting that was so damaging in the past.