Watch: The Ottawa Citizen’s Mark Kennedy and Jennifer Ditchburn with The Canadian Press discuss Harper’s flip-flop on having guns for personal security, and what to expect from the opposition when the government seeks to extend and expand the mission in Iraq.
As the government gets set to extend and expand Canada’s mission in Iraq, there is a lot of attention on how the opposition parties – particularly the Liberals – might react.
“It’s really Justin Trudeau that I’m waiting to hear what he has to say because he took so much heat even from within his party over his opposition to the mission,” said Jennifer Ditchburn during a panel discussion on The West Block with Tom Clark.
Trudeau voted against the mission last fall.
Read more: Jean Chretien backs Justin Trudeau on Iraq
“There was a time I thought that would have been very difficult for Trudeau to turn around on this and now I’m not so sure,” Mark Kennedy said on The West Block. “I think he’s under a lot of pressure from his own party and Canadians to come forward in support of this mission.”
However he votes, Kennedy says Trudeau has to do a good job explaining his decision.
“We have to see Trudeau delivering a speech in the House of Commons. It has to hang together and Canadians need to see him as a leader because right now Harper is describing him as someone who is basically standing in the shadows,” says Kennedy.
Stephen Harper’s gun comments
Stephen Harper started a firestorm with comments he made while speaking to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities.
“You know it’s … my wife’s from a rural area. Gun ownership wasn’t just for the farm. It was also for a certain level of security when you’re a ways away from police, immediate police assistance,” Harper said.
At a later event in Toronto, Harper was asked about the criticism coming his way from the opposition and all parties in Quebec.
Read more: NDP leader shoots down Harper’s comments about people who arm themselves
“Well look, in terms of the remarks, I think some interpretations … the interpretation you just put on it is patently ridiculous. It’s patently ridiculous. You know gun owners in Canada are not allowed to take the law into their own hands,” he said.
That didn’t clear things up for Ditchburn, a senior reporter with The Canadian Press.
“So what did you mean by personal security? Remember the first part of that statement was that it’s not just about the farm, right? So he’s taken out of the equation presumably shooting pests and so on, on your farm, that element of safety. So he’s talking about some sort of personal security … what home invasion? We don’t know,” she said on The West Block. “He really confused the issue but perhaps that’s on purpose, right? There’s a two-track message going on.”
“It will work for the Conservative base but all I guess I’m thinking is this, there will be Canadians out there — and I’ve heard from them — who have already interpreted this as a sign that Stephen Harper wants to move down the path of an American gun system, which he denies flatly but that’s the danger for him,” said Kennedy, parliamentary bureau chief for the Ottawa Citizen.
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