Quebec’s premier says he supports ongoing Canadian military intervention against the Islamic State given that “all democratic societies are at war.”
Speaking to reporters in Quebec City on Saturday morning in the aftermath of coordinated terror attacks in Paris, Liberal Premier Philippe Couillard had some harsh words for terrorist groups like ISIS, saying in French that: “If you are trying to kill people in such barbaric ways as we have seen over the past several months, the past several years, we must respond at the same level.”
In English, Couillard clarified that he believes terrorist groups like ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, are “a deadly enemy that has to be confronted with proportional force.”
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What that means for Canada, the premier said, is cooperating with international allies in whatever way we can.
“What the events of today show, after a succession of similar events, is the failure of the unilateral approach,” he said.
“We have to be part of an international coalition, we have to be a part of an international movement and play the role that our partners want us to play … I think most Canadians will agree with this.”
That statement may put Couillard at odds with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has said his government will put an end to the current Canadian bombing mission against ISIS in favour of assigning more troops to help with training initiatives. Canada is currently committed to the bombing mission until the end of March, and it is unclear if the Liberals plan to pull out before that.
One thing Couillard was adamant about on Saturday was that he supports Ottawa’s plan to bring thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing ISIS and the regime of Bashar al-Assad into Canada as quickly as possible, as long as the proper security checks are conducted.
“The people who will come to Canada and to Quebec are themselves victims of terror,” Couillard said Saturday.
Quebec has been the scene of intense debate in recent years surrounding the rights of religious minorities, especially Muslims. It is also the home province of two radicalized men who carried out terror attacks in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in the fall of 2014.
“One of the worst outcomes that could come out of this crisis is that we would become more closed and entrenched,” Couillard said. “We should have to opposite reaction … we should not turn our backs on refugees.”
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