"Liberal Lack of Leadership Embarrassing"

April 22, 2003

As disturbing images of injured and dead civilians and soldiers are beamed around the world, Canadians on each side of the debate over whether Canada should be involved in the conflict in Iraq become more and more entrenched in their opinions.  

As the hostilities intensify it has also become more and more apparent that the federal Liberal government has failed to serve the interests of either side, nor Canada itself. 

As I stated last week, this is a very emotional and highly-divisive issue as demonstrated in part by the many rallies held across the country throughout the past couple of weeks.

At a demonstration in Ottawa last Saturday, almost 5,000 Canadians turned out, not to make a pro-war statement, but to appeal to the federal government to support Australia, Great Britain and the United States against the 25-year reign of tyranny by Saddam Hussein.  

I believe he should be held accountable for his crimes against humanity and the Iraqi people, and I detailed some of those crimes when I spoke at the rally.  Five thousand Kurdish men, women and children were gassed because they dared to stand up against Saddam.  He uses innocent women and children as human shields and commands his army to fire upon Iraqi citizens attempting to flee from the line of fire. 

We cannot remain neutral while thousands more perish at the hands of a brutal regime.  There is a price for peace, safety and freedom and it’s a price that Canada has proudly paid in the past.

I also respect that many Canadians believe that this is not the time or Iraq is not the place for Canada to step forward to pay that price.  However, they too have grown to resent the federal Liberal government’s bungling in this international crisis. 

Even many of those whom support the Liberals’ decision not to join a military operation in Iraq believe: 

That the Prime Minister should have been able to develop a decisive position and to convey it clearly to Canadians and the international community. 

That the Canadian government should have kicked the Iraqi government’s representatives out of Canada. 

That Mr. Chrétien should have ensured that his caucus and cabinet did not ridicule and insult the Americans throughout this critically sensitive time.  And that he should have severely reprimanded them when they did. 

That he should have conveyed compassion for the families of all Coalition soldiers in the midst of dangerous combat and that he should have, despite any Ottawa-Washington differences over this issue, taken symbolic and diplomatic measures to solidify our close relationship with the U.S. 

Even Canadians who support peace at all costs believe that, at the very least, our federal government should have had the decency to acknowledge and support the Canadian military personnel who find themselves in combat with Coalition forces due to their participation in exchange programs.  

Instead the Liberals have behaved as though these Canadian soldiers are an awkward inconvenience whose existence they’d rather try to hide from the world!

 It's the Liberal government that has embarrassed Canada by demonstrating it has neither the leadership, the strategic intelligence nor the diplomatic expertise necessary to represent Canadians at home and abroad.