REGINA – The National Defence Minister is promising more military funding to fight ISIS and what he called a growing terrorist threat.
“Last October we saw two terrorist attacks on our own soil,” said Kenney.
He made the announcement Saturday at Conservative candidate Trent Fraser’s campaign office as the Conservatives pitch themselves as the gatekeepers of National security.
“A re-elected Conservative government will make further investments in the size and resources available to the Canadian Special Operation Forces,” said Kenney.
The Conservative plan promises $75 million over four years to expand Canada’s anti terrorism mission.
“Between now and the year 2022, we will increase by some 35% the strength of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command,” said Kenney.
The mission is known as the Canadian Armed Forces Special Operations Command (CANSOFCOM) and includes five main units, including a Joint Incident Response Unit and a Special Operations Training Centre.
However, the Liberal Party says the money pledged is actually old money.
“There’s been no new money announced that’s supposed to come from this. So this means a cut somewhere else. Where else are they going to cut? Where are they going to cut further? They’ve already cut $15 billion from the defence budget,” said Louis Browne, Liberal candidate for Regina-Lewvan.
The announcement comes on the heels of the news the government stripped the citizenship of a convicted Canadian terrorist part of the Toronto-18.
“I can confirm that Mr. Zakaria Amara’s citizenship has been revoked pursuant to legislation that our government adopted allowing for the revocation of citizenship from convicted terrorists or traders,” said Kenney
Kenney said choosing Regina to make the announcement was A function of schedule, but added that support for the military is an important issue in the province.
With the redrawing of constituency boundaries, ridings that were once Conservative, could be up for grabs.
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