TORONTO – Former prime minister Jean Chretien says he supports Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s decision to oppose Canada’s air combat mission in Iraq.
In a column for the Globe and Mail Friday, Chretien calls the deployment of fighter planes a “very marginal” response to the crisis caused by Islamic State militants.
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Chretien writes that he believes the “best contribution Canada can make is by engaging in massive, not token, humanitarian assistance.”
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He says that is why he supports the position taken by Trudeau.
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Chretien also recalled how in 2003, there was no louder critic than then-Opposition Leader Stephen Harper to his decision to keep Canada out of the Iraq war.
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A wrong decision, such as that invasion, wrote Chretien, “can have disastrous results that reverberate for years.”
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