MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2006

Council of Canadians urges MPs to oppose longer mission in Afghanistan

While the Canadian public increasingly rejects Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants to extend combat operations there by another two years. A debate and a vote on this two-year extension will take place this Wednesday. The Council of Canadians, Canada's largest citizens' advocacy organization, is urging Members of Parliament to vote against the prime minister's motion.

While the Conservative government has sought to appease the Bush administration by joining its 'war on terror', the direction of the Harper government is becoming increasingly divergent from the views of the Canadian public. A recent Strategic Counsel poll indicates that 54 per cent of Canadians either oppose or strongly oppose Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. "Opposition to the war has dramatically increased over the last two months and it would appear that the Harper government is trying to entrench our military in Afghanistan before even more Canadians reject this mission," says Brent Patterson, director of organizing for the Council of Canadians.

"With Canadian soldiers being killed and injured in Afghanistan, a lack of clear purpose around this mission, and Stephen Harper mimicking George Bush by blocking media coverage of dead soldiers returning home, the prime minister and the public are simply not on the same page on this issue," says Patterson.

The Council of Canadians has called on its members and the general public across Canada to contact their local MP and demand that they oppose the extension of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan.

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