Canadian parties show signs of Afghan compromise
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's minority government and themain opposition party signalled their desire on Tuesday to finda compromise position on the country's military mission inAfghanistan, easing the likelihood of an election over thedivisive issue.
The ruling Conservatives have said that if Parliament doesnot extend the mission in the southern city of Kandahar,currently scheduled to end in February 2009, the governmentwould fall and Canada would head into an election.
But Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Tuesday that theopposition Liberals and the Conservatives now fundamentallyagree that the 2,500 troops should stay until 2011, and both heand Liberal leader Stephane Dion talked about finding commonground.
"We are willing in good faith to explore ... if there is acommon ground with our motion that may allow an agreement,"Dion said after presenting a series of proposals that wouldreplace a government motion on the Afghan mission.
The Liberals plan would keep the troops in Afghanistanuntil July 2011, but they would concentrate on training Afghanforces and providing security for reconstruction anddevelopment.
The idea is to wind down the active combat mission againstthe Taliban, though this language was absent from the Liberaltext.
The mission in Kandahar is one of the most controversialtopics in domestic politics. Polls regularly show that abouthalf of Canadians want the soldiers back on schedule.
Less than half an hour after Dion finished speaking, Harpertold reporters he welcomed the Liberal Party's ideas.
"The government's objective is to seek common ground hereso we will look at these in great detail, with the expressintention of trying to find common ground," he said.
"But I think this is a positive development and one that Ithink is moving the debate in the right direction."
The Conservatives were elected with a minority of seats inthe House of Commons in January 2006, defeating the Liberals.
They say they would like to govern until the fixed electiondate of October 2009, but they have set a series of confidencevotes for the next several weeks -- over a crime bill,Afghanistan and the budget -- which could force an electionbefore then.
The Conservatives, who need the support of at least oneopposition party in the House to pass legislation, survived oneconfidence test on Tuesday afternoon, a motion urging theLiberal-dominated Senate to pass a crime bill by March 1.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said that if the Senate doesnot pass the legislation by then, he would recommend thatHarper treat this as a matter of confidence too. The motion isnot binding on the appointed Senate.
Polls show the most likely result of an election now wouldbe another fragile minority Conservative government, thoughsome polls have suggested the Liberals could win a minority.
Among remaining differences between the two parties is thatthe Conservatives had not wanted to decree an end to Canada'smilitary engagement in 2011, while the Liberals want 2011 to bea firm deadline to prevent a "never-ending" war.
The Conservatives and Liberals agree that the soldiersshould stay only if the NATO alliance sends more troops toKandahar and if Canada is able to secure medium-lifthelicopters as well as unmanned aerial vehicles.
(Editing by Rob Wilson)