Conservative defence critic James Bezan says it’s “really shameful” the federal government did not tell the public that an airbase in Kuwait, where the Canadian Armed Forces have a camp, was hit by an Iranian missile attack on March 1.
The newspaper La Presse reported today that the Canadian camp at the Ali Al-salem Air Base appeared to be damaged by the attack, although no Canadian military members were injured.
Canada has an operational support hub at the airbase, which also hosts the United States Air Force.
Bezan says Ottawa has been “way too secretive” about the war while allies hold daily briefings.
The Department of National Defence, which took a week to respond to a question about the base, says it will not disclose information about military facilities for “operational security reasons.”
“We are aware of reports of strikes in the vicinity of Ali Al-salem Air Base,” the statement said, without answering questions about when it occurred, the extent of the damage or a possible response.
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“Based on events since Feb. 27, efforts have focused on the force protection of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members, including relocating some within the region, staying in their location if force protection is appropriate, and where applicable, redeploying some back to Canada. All CAF personnel in the region are currently safe and accounted for.
The Liberal government called a take-note debate in Parliament on Monday night on the Iran war, but did not mention the attack.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in Yellowknife on Thursday that Canadian military service members are “safe and sound,” but did not otherwise comment on the attack.
“We are not engaged in these actions of the U.S. and Israel, we’re not engaged in offensive actions, and we will not be engaged in those actions,” he said.
—With additional files from Global News
WOW, this happened two weeks ago!!! This weakkneed PM Marxist Carney seems awful good at passing the buck, once again. Some one in his Cabinet should tell this poor choice of a leader who the buck stops with.
The LPC lives their terrorists
They never fail to try and protect them
Russian troll still pretending to be Roy. lol…moron has a nice economy though because of Putin. lol…how many more years for Putin’s war? Four more?
As if the government keeping it on the hush wasn’t bad enough,global has to include a pic and video clip of Trudeau in the article. Hasn’t our military and we as Canadians suffered enough already?
This government is ignoring the war. So full of cowardice and coruption they cant see past their own W E F agenda. Carney thinks he can beat Trump with just words and long long speeches. F*ck you Carney.
@lloyd, I agree with you, that was the underlying message in saying the gov’t may want to rethink keeping Canadians in the dark. @Pierre I don’t dislike Carney, just making a point about transparency in general, LOL.
@Lynn – voters might want to rethink it too ……
Secrecy in keeping this attack on Canadian troops is just one more symptom of a government that is neither transparent nor open. Beware of such governments for as they grow in size so they become more inclined to censorship and control.
@Lynn….lol…like what? I like him lately.
The government seems to be a lot too secretive with many issues, keeping Canadians in the dark, politicians may want to rethink this before elections come around again.