OTTAWA - NDP Foreign Affairs and International Development Critic, Alexa McDonough (MP Halifax) today urged Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor to accept her invitation to participate in a Forum on Canada’s Future Role in Afghanistan, taking place December 4 in Halifax.

“I am pleased that the Minister has begun touring the country to talk to Canadians about our role in Afghanistan,” said McDonough. “Although the government has clearly put the cart before the horse, by extending the Kandahar mission by two full years without consulting Canadians.”

“Let me also remind the Minister however, that Canada does not end at the Quebec-New Brunswick border,” added McDonough.

In the letter of invitation to the Minister, McDonough notes that, “the concerns and frustrations of Canadians have been exacerbated by the inadequate opportunity for open, informed dialogue” on Canada’s role in Afghanistan.

To create some ‘public space’ for respectful dialogue, in the spirit of the Minister’s response to McDonough’s questions in the House of Commons on October 26, the Halifax MP together with her colleague, NDP Veterans Affairs Critic, Peter Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore) extended the invitation to the Minister on November 7. The Forum is being held in collaboration with Dalhousie University’s Centre for Foreign Policy Studies.

“I can see no reason why the Minister would refuse to participate, here in Halifax, home to Canada’s largest military community and in the province that has suffered the largest number of Kandahar casualties on a per capita basis.”

McDonough’s November 7 letter to Minister O’Connor follows.

November 7, 2006

Hon. Gordon O'Connor
Minister of National Defence
157 East Block
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

Dear Minister,

A great many Canadians are struggling with Canada’s role in Afghanistan. They want Canada to work with the Afghan government and civil society to create the conditions capable of generating enduring peace. They want to support Afghans in rebuilding their shattered lives and their communities. Equally, Canadians have growing unease about the nature of Canada’s aggressive combat role in Kandahar.

The concerns and frustrations of Canadians have been exacerbated by the inadequate opportunity for open, informed dialogue and by your government’s extension of the Kandahar mission with no meaningful debate. In an attempt to create some ‘public space’ for such discourse and in the spirit of your suggestion in Question Period on October 26, I invite you to participate in a public forum on Canada’s future role in Afghanistan, initiated by my colleague Peter Stoffer, MP and myself. The forum on the evening of December 4, is being held in collaboration with Dalhousie University’s Centre for Foreign Policy Studies.

Canadians have repeatedly expressed a desire for greater balance among Canada’s diplomatic, development, and defence contributions in Afghanistan. In an attempt to achieve that balance in the proposed forum, I invite you to participate together with Dr. David Black, who recently completed seven years as Chair of the International Development Studies Department at Dalhousie University, and Peggy Mason, Chair of the Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee and Canada’s disarmament Ambassador to the UN from 1989 to 1994.

Dalhousie University’s Centre for Foreign Policy Studies is assisting with organizational details of the forum. The Centre’s Director, Dr. Dan Middlemiss, has agreed that he or one of his colleagues will moderate the forum.

I urge you to respond positively to this opportunity which is so important to the people in metro Halifax, particularly our military families to whom we are deeply indebted. I hope you take into account that Halifax is home to Canada’s largest military community and Nova Scotians have suffered the largest number of casualties on a per capita basis.

Sincerely,

Alexa McDonough, MP Halifax
NDP Foreign Affairs and International Development Critic