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Sign the Petition: Keep Canada Out of Iraq!
Wed, 2014-09-17 16:47
#1
Sign the Petition: Keep Canada Out of Iraq!
Wed, 2014-09-17 16:48
#2
[url=http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=19642]Ceasefire.ca's petition[/url]
Please sign it and share it!
And let's keep a watch out for actions in our communities.
Wed, 2014-09-17 18:06
#3
infracaninophile
Thanks for that, I took out the stock text and wrote a detailed (and critical) letter. Also signed up for the updates. I had not heard of this group before, but it sounds like one to support.
Wed, 2014-09-17 20:13
#4
laine lowe
Thanks for the link, infracaninophile. I've been on ceasefire.ca's mailing list for years. A very legitimate and focused group that tackles the arms industry, militarization of foreign policy and Canada's participation in asymetrical warfare.
Wed, 2014-09-17 21:10
#5
Thanks for the link, infracaninophile.
You're welcome!
Thu, 2014-09-18 17:15
#6
laine lowe
Ooops, sorry about that 
Fri, 2014-09-19 10:45
#7
Please sign it and share it!
And let's keep a watch out for actions in our communities.¨.......
Although I can´t disagree with any action no matter how lame, surely we´ve got to be proposing better!
An appeal? To harper? Maybe to some Greek God of wisdom would be more effective!
Again this is no substitute for building community based anti imperialist anti zionist anti militarist organization and movements to take effective actions to shut down the war industry, their oil industry, their bankers!
Sat, 2014-09-20 17:10
#8
[url=http://canadianpeace.org/no-new-war-in-iraq/]Canadian Peace Alliance: Take action to stop Harper’s new war in Iraq[/url]
Contact your MP and demand an end to Canadian participation in this new war in Iraq. A list of MPs is available here and you can find your MP based on your postal code here. You can contact the main federal party leaders here:
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper: [email protected], 613-992-4211, and 403-253-7990
- NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair: [email protected], 613-995-7224, and 514-736-2727
- Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau: [email protected], 613-995-8872, and 514-277-6020
Demand that the federal party leaders and your Member of Parliament:
- Immediately call on the government to bring home any and all of the troops operating in Iraq and Syria and push for diplomatic solutions to the crisis.
- Support Canada leaving the Friends of Syria Group and end its campaign of destabilizing Syria, including funding and arming of different resistance groups.
- Push for the Canadian government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against U.S. Iraq war resisters and create, once and for all, a provision that would allow them to remain in Canada.
- Redirect military spending to peace and prosperity, not war and austerity. It’s time we started spending our money on jobs not war.
Sat, 2014-09-20 17:15
#9
alan smithee
No disrespect to the petition but it will only serve as TP for Harpo the War Pig.
Canada will be in Iraq and Syria and etc... Now is the time to leave the military.
Fri, 2014-09-26 22:31
#10
Got this reply from Elizabeth May - waiting for others:
Thank you for copying me on your email to the Prime Minister regarding the Harper Conservatives’ decision to send our troops into Iraq. I am strongly opposed to the decision to send our troops into a war zone without any debate by Parliamentarians.
Canada was once respected around the world for its commitment to democracy and peacekeeping. Former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for inventing peacekeeping, and yet we no longer contribute more than a handful of peacekeepers as boots on the ground to help.
In his attempt to rebrand Canada as a ‘warrior nation’, Prime Minister Harper has effectively ended most of Canada’s peacekeeping commitments. Although it would be unfair to say that he is solely responsible for the marked decline, there have been significant reductions since he became Prime Minister. We have now reached the point where we can refuse to send four generals in a peacekeeping capacity to the Democratic Republic of Congo because we cannot spare them, but we are able to send a hundred troops into Iraq in an advisory capacity at the American’s request.
Scott Taylor, editor of Esprit de Corps magazine, has a better memory than most. He can connect the dots. In his July 28 column, Taylor noted that the unrest in Iraq goes back to a single mistake - one wildly supported by Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. He writes:
“Much of the chaos, violence, and anarchy in those countries, at the hands of al-Qaida linked extremists, can be directly traced back to the overthrow of Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011 [...] as Canada celebrated NATO’s victory over Libya with a parade on Parliament Hill, the ‘dogs of war’ unleashed by Baird and company refused to return to their kennel. Libya remains a failed state awash in violence, and al-Qaida fighters, with weapons from Libya, have captured vast swaths of Syria, Iraq and Mali.”
It is the duty of Parliamentarians to hold the government to account. The decision to send troops into Iraq was made without consulting Parliament in any way. There was no debate on how this decision was not authorized by the United Nations and no discussion about how we helped to instigate this conflict by arming rebel forces in Syria and Libya. If Canada is the democracy that we claim to be, our Prime Minister would have consulted with Parliament before making such a commitment.
Thank you again for writing. I will continue to speak out in the House of Commons about the issues facing Canada.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth May, O.C., M.P.
Saanich–Gulf Islands
Leader of the Green Party of Canada